Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly
—-
ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum
(As delivered)
Madam President,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Madam Deputy Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.
We are painfully aware of the interconnected crises which our world is facing.
From the COVID-19 pandemic to environmental degradation, deep-seated economic inequality, and other major challenges, recent years have stretched weak socio-economic structures to their limits.
The lack of a coordinated international response has led to a significant decline in global economic growth, in rising inflation, and a looming debt crisis.
A crisis which is heavily impacting developing countries.
More than half of these states are in debt distress as a result of declining revenues, even as debt repayment dues and interest rates rise and borrowing costs soar.
It is imperative that we come together as a global community, across all sectors, to tackle these challenges.
We urgently need coordinated efforts from public to private, domestic and international creditors, as well as governments, to find solutions to the long-standing structural problems of debt.
I was listening to the analysis and proposal just introduced by the Secretary-General. They deserve good attention and I hope that they will resonate with the intentions of the G20 leaders.
On a similar tone, I would like to offer to your kind attention three major groups of deficiencies of the international development financing system:
One, our international financial architecture is deeply unjust. We must address the inequalities that corrode it.
Two, the way of allocating funds is not supporting enough the agreed transformation to sustainable development. Meaning, the strategic direction is still the one that contributed to the crises. We know that we are approaching tipping points on some global common goods. Never the less, our financing practice seems to partly or largely ignoring it. Often even contributing to the acceleration of crossing the point of no return.
Three, the various impacts of project financing are still not measured as they should be. Should we learn the lessons from past mistakes, we could increase the efficiency of spending while significantly reducing the negative externalities of our capital spending.
We must align global policy frameworks so that they promote a new financing model for sustainable development.
To ensure accessible and affordable financing for developing countries, we must bolster the lending capacity and operational efficiency of multilateral and public development banks.
We must induce them to provide robust financial buffers for use in times of need.
On the other hand, we must also boost domestic resource mobilization.
In both domestic and international financing, the better understanding of comprehensive impacts would be key.
To sum things up, we should enhance and accelerate systemic reform in the field of international finances.
No doubt, it requires rethinking of the priorities and a change of the business models, too.
Let us jointly reframe the current paradigm to guarantee that everyone has fair and equitable access to financing for sustainable development. And let us not forget: development can only be sustainable, otherwise, at the end of the day, there will be no development.
Dear friends,
We have no shortage of ambitious goals, but we often struggle to meet our targets.
To achieve the many changes we need, we require strong political will.
This Forum is a critical step on our journey towards a year of transformation.
As the Secretary-General has just stressed, this week’s discussions will contribute to the political declaration for the SDG Summit and set the tone for the Financing for Development High-level Dialogue in September.
Our objectives are clear.
It is time to honour our commitments and to redouble our efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda.
Let’s continue to work towards a more sustainable, and therefore more predictable future.
Thank you very much.
