[Video Message]
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for the opportunity to address this regional consultation of African stakeholders ahead of the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
This meeting is a critical step towards FfD4. The current international financial architecture is not delivering for sustainable development. FfD4 is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to transform it. African countries and stakeholders have already been driving progress on the reform in key areas. Your voices and perspectives in this process are crucial.
When the preparatory committee met in Addis Ababa, in July, we took stock of progress made after the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in 2015.
We saw that financing gaps are widening. Countries face crushing debt burdens and the cost of borrowing is too high. Concessional financing is inadequate and illicit financial flows are draining resources. This is especially true in Africa.
Half of the world¡¯s poorest countries are at high risk of debt distress or have already reached it. Many African countries spend a fifth or more of their revenue just on debt service. This leaves little room to invest in the SDGs and climate action.
We need a global system that better supports sustainable development. FfD4 can deliver breakthroughs in key areas.
On debt sustainability, it can deliver a development-oriented debt architecture.
It can deliver MDB reforms that scale up financing for climate and SDGs.
And it can drive more expansive use of Special Drawing Rights to strengthen the global safety net in our increasingly shock-ridden world.
The Pact for the Future, adopted at the Summit of the Future, emphasized reforms that we need, including giving developing countries a stronger voice in international financial institutions.
The FfD4 process must build on the Pact to deliver concrete progress on the financing agenda.
Three sessions of the Preparatory Committee remain. The first, coming up in December in New York, will consider the Elements paper prepared by the Co-Facilitators.
The two sessions in 2025 will consider the outcome document.
The findings from this regional consultation must inform our next steps.
Excellencies,
FfD4 must meet the urgency of the moment and must deliver concrete progress for Africa.
We need more fiscal space for SDG investment and a multilateral system that supports country-level resilience.
Let's work together to ensure FfD4 leaves no one behind. I encourage you to actively engage in this process. Your commitment is crucial for Africa's sustainable development.
Thank you!