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STORY: UN / FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT
TRT: 05:02
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 28 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
28 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
3. Wide shot, ECOSOC dais
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Bob Rae, President, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
“Trade is not a four letter word. Trade is a positive way for countries to exchange goods and services, and to be able to emerge from poverty themselves. We need to reinforce the importance of reducing barriers to trade rather than increasing barriers to trade. To think that trade is a win-lose proposition, that some countries win from trade and other countries lose, or to think that there is a simple national solution to the problem of international trade, is simply wrong.”
5. Wide shot, dais
6. Various shots, delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We face some harsh truths; the harsh truth of donors pulling the plug on aid commitments and delivery at historic speed and scale; the harsh truth of trade barriers being erected at a dizzying pace; the harsh truth that the Sustainable Development Goals are dramatically off track, exacerbated by an annual financing gap of an estimated for 3 billion US dollars; and the harsh truth of prohibitively high borrowing costs that are draining away public investments in everything from education and health systems, to social protection infrastructure, and the energy transition.”
8. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We cannot let our financing for development ambitions get swept away. We have just five years to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. We need to shift into overdrive, and that includes making good on the commitments countries made in the Pact for the Future in September. From a necessary stimulus to help countries invest in their people, to vital and long awaited reforms to the global financial architecture, to the Pact’s clear commitments to open, fair and rules-based trade, to its call for an analysis of the impact of military expenditures on the achievement of the SDGs - with the final report out by September - to the Pact's urging for an ambitious outcome to July's Conference on Financing for Development.”
10. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“In many developing countries, gains are getting crushed under the weight of debt services siphoning away investments in education and infrastructure. And the problem is getting worse. Debt service for developing economies has soared past 1.4 trillion US dollars a year. Debt service now exceeds 10 percent of government revenue in more than 50 developing countries, and more than 20 percent in 17 countries, a clearly warning sign of default. The Sevilla Conference should emerge with a commitment by member states to lower the cost of borrowing, improve debt restructuring, and prevent crisis from taking goals. And this includes establishing a dedicated facility to help developing countries manage their liabilities and then has liquidity in times of crisis.”
12. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
13. Wide shot, press conference dais
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Bob Rae, President, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
“I think every capital of an advanced economy that is normally a donor is having a debate about what can they do? What can we do? But there's no one country that can substitute for the efforts that the United States has been making over the last 80 years. And I think we all need to understand that, you know, the bottom is fallen out. The world is turned upside down. What more do I have to say to describe how serious the situation is? And I don't think any of the rest of us should be following suit. I think it would be a terrible mistake if that were to happen.”
15. Med shot, journalists
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Bob Rae, President, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC):
“We can't wait for the United States to make up its mind as to what kind of a player it wants to be in the world. We have an obligation ourselves. Each one of our governments has an obligation to say, what are we going to do to make sure that the public good is not totally forgotten, and that the wellbeing of the world is not forgotten, and that our common security is not forgotten?”
17. Med shot, journalist
18. Wide shot, end of presser
With five years remaining to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), Secretary-General António Guterres said, “we cannot let our financing for development ambitions get swept away,” urging countries to “making good on the commitments” made in the Pact for the Future last September.
Opening a financing for development forum ahead of the July 4th International Conference on
Financing for Development in Seville, the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting Bob Rae said, “trade is not a four letter word.”
Rae said, “trade is a positive way for countries to exchange goods and services, and to be able to emerge from poverty themselves. We need to reinforce the importance of reducing barriers to trade rather than increasing barriers to trade. To think that trade is a win-lose proposition, that some countries win from trade and other countries lose, or to think that there is a simple national solution to the problem of international trade, is simply wrong.”
Guterres, told the forum that “we face some harsh truths; the harsh truth of donors pulling the plug on aid commitments and delivery at historic speed and scale; the harsh truth of trade barriers being erected at a dizzying pace; the harsh truth that the Sustainable Development Goals are dramatically off track, exacerbated by an annual financing gap of an estimated for 3 billion US dollars; and the harsh truth of prohibitively high borrowing costs that are draining away public investments in everything from education and health systems, to social protection infrastructure, and the energy transition.”
He said, “from a necessary stimulus to help countries invest in their people, to vital and long awaited reforms to the global financial architecture, to the Pact’s clear commitments to open, fair and rules-based trade, to its call for an analysis of the impact of military expenditures on the achievement of the SDGs - with the final report out by September - to the Pact's urging for an ambitious outcome to July's Conference on Financing for Development.”
The Secretary-General said, “in many developing countries, gains are getting crushed under the weight of debt services siphoning away investments in education and infrastructure. And the problem is getting worse.”
He said, “the Sevilla Conference should emerge with a commitment by member states to lower the cost of borrowing, improve debt restructuring, and prevent crisis from taking goals. And this includes establishing a dedicated facility to help developing countries manage their liabilities and then has liquidity in times of crisis.”
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Rae said, “every capital of an advanced economy that is normally a donor is having a debate about what can they do? What can we do? But there's no one country that can substitute for the efforts that the United States has been making over the last 80 years.”
He said, “we can't wait for the United States to make up its mind as to what kind of a player it wants to be in the world. We have an obligation ourselves. Each one of our governments has an obligation to say, what are we going to do to make sure that the public good is not totally forgotten, and that the wellbeing of the world is not forgotten, and that our common security is not forgotten?”
The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) will be held in Sevilla, Spain, from June 30 to July 3, 2025. The conference will focus on financing for sustainable development and will be held at the FIBES Sevilla Exhibition and Conference Centre.
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