Macron calls for concrete solutions to development financing at Paris summit
Paris, June 22 (EFE).- French President Emmanuel Macron called on Thursday for “concrete solutions” to the global financing system so that low-income countries are equipped to fight climate change and also develop their economies.
Speaking at the New Global Financing Pact in Paris, Macron said that no country should have to choose “between reducing poverty and protecting the planet.”
Macron added that the international financial system was the result of a past consensus, and that although the Bretton Woods institutions — the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — had proven their value they were not entirely suited to the world’s current challenges.
The French president called for a “public finance shock”, adding that massive investments from both the private and public sectors were required paired with mobilization of international institutions.
“We must invest way more, and we are not up to the task,” he warned.
“We can make it work much better if this money and these liquidities were at the service of progress on the planet and tackling this double challenge that I mentioned: poverty and climate change, and biodiversity,” Macron said.
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said the current international financial structure was “obsolete” and was contributing to increasing inequalities.
Guterres called for urgent action “towards a giant leap towards global justice.”
The UN chief added that it was not necessary to wait for a radical transformation of the global financing architecture and instead urged leaders to concrete action now towards world justice.
Guterres appealed to global leaders for an SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Stimulus plan of at least $500 billion a year, for investments in sustainable development and climate action.
Within his proposals, Guterres outlined a debt relief payment mechanism that would support “payment suspensions, longer lending terms and lower (interest) rates” that would also include middle-income countries with vulnerabilities linked to climate change.
“I urge you to make this meeting a rallying cry for call to action,” Guterres told the leaders gathered in Paris.
“We are at a moment of truth and reckoning and together we can make it a moment of hope,” Guterres concluded.
World leaders have gathered in Paris for a two-day summit to lay the foundations for a new development financing system. EFE
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