Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoGENEVA / UNCTAD GUTERRES WRAP
STORY: GENEVA / UNCTAD GUTERRES WRAP
TRT: 04:02
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 OCTOBER 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Various shots, UN Secretary-General’s arrival, UNCTAD Secretary-General, podium, conference room
2. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“In this radically different new world, some things — sadly — remain the same. Developing countries continue to be short-changed.”
3. Wide shot, podium, conference room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Trade barriers are rising, with some least developed countries facing extortionate tariffs of 40 percent, despite representing barely one per cent of global trade flows. Maybe protectionism might be in some situations inevitable but at least it should be rational.”
5. Wide shot, podium, conference room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“While services trade is growing, we see a rising risk of trade wars for goods. And military expenditure trends show that we are increasingly investing more in death than in people’s prosperity and well-being.”
7. Wide shot, podium, conference room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We must help countries move beyond commodity dependence and build links to global value chains that drive jobs and prosperity. And we need new tools that allow developing countries to compete and benefit from the explosive growth in services trade.”
9. Wide shot, podium, conference room
10. Wide shot, podium, speakers, journalists, press room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Developing countries spend $1.4 trillion on annual debt service. 61 of them spent 10 per cent or more of their government revenues on interest payments last year. And 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on servicing debt than on health or education. Countries should never have to choose between servicing their debt or serving their people.”
12. Wide shot, journalists, press room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The Sevilla Platform for Action included 130 specific initiatives to help developing countries channel public and private finance to the areas of greatest need. The Sevilla Forum on Debt we’re launching today is one of the most eagerly anticipated ones.”
14. Various shots, press room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD):
“If you look at the capital markets and bond markets, the world is not in crisis. Things look stable. There have been no major sovereign defaults since 2022. It's easy to mistake this for success, because markets are not suffering, but people are.”
16. Wide shot, journalists, press room
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD):
“What we have now is perpetual crisis management dressed up as normality. This Sevilla forum on debt offers a path from that fragile balance to genuine stability and prosperity, not through quick fixes, but through the patient work of building an architecture where debt serves development instead of consuming it.”
18. Wide shot, journalists, press room
UN Secretary-General said, “Countries should never have to choose between servicing their debt or serving their people.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed today (22 Oct) the 16th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16)
He said that in the new world in which we live, some things remain the same, as developing countries continue to be short-changed.
Notably, he added, trade barriers are rising, with some least developed countries facing extortionate tariffs of 40 per cent, despite representing barely one per cent of global trade flows.
Protectionism might be inevitable in some situations but at least it should be rational, Guterres added.
UNCTAD16 takes place from 20 to 23 October 2025 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, with the theme "Shaping the future: Driving economic transformation for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development".
Hosted by Switzerland and UNCTAD, the conference convenes Heads of State and Government, Ministers of Trade and Economy, Nobel Laureates, leaders of international organizations, representatives of civil society and renowned experts to engage in high-level dialogue on global trends and policy perspectives on trade, investment, development and the digital economy.
Alongside UNCTAD16, at the launch of the Sevilla Forum on Debt today in Geneva today, Guterres said, “Developing countries spend $1.4 trillion on annual debt service. 61 of them spent 10 per cent or more of their government revenues on interest payments last year. And 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on servicing debt than on health or education. Countries should never have to choose between servicing their debt or serving their people.”
He also said, “The Sevilla Platform for Action included 130 specific initiatives to help developing countries channel public and private finance to the areas of greatest need. The Sevilla Forum on Debt we’re launching today is one of the most eagerly anticipated ones.”
Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD Secretary-General noted, “If you look at the capital markets and bond markets, the world is not in crisis. Things look stable. There have been no major sovereign defaults since 2022. It's easy to mistake this for success, because markets are not suffering, but people are.”
She stressed, “What we have now is perpetual crisis management dressed up as normality. This Sevilla forum on debt offers a path from that fragile balance to genuine stability and prosperity, not through quick fixes, but through the patient work of building an architecture where debt serves development instead of consuming it.”
The Sevilla Forum on Debt, launched at UNCTAD16, is one of the key commitments of the 4th Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) which took place in Spain in July 2025.
It represents a breakthrough in tackling the entrenched debt crisis in developing countries.
Download
There is no media available to download.
