The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres has called for radical action to reform the international financial architecture, empower developing countries and channel trillions of dollars towards sustainable development in Africa and other developing countries.

The call came over the weekend at the conclusion of the preparatory committee (PrepComm) for the fourth International Conference in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, that aimed to renew the push for sustainable development financing and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 “Faced with sky-high debt burdens and costs of capital, developing countries have limited prospects of financing the Sustainable Development Goals,” stated Guterres in a video message to the conference.

After four years of a series of global shocks – including the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts and economic instability – the SDG financing gap for developing countries has ballooned to $4 trillion annually.

The ministers stressed that there is a financing gap and accompanying debt challenges that have worsened poverty and inequality, putting the world off track to meet international targets set in 2015.

“Failing to raise sufficient resources have laid bare structural flaws in the international financial architecture and accelerated calls for reforms,” he said.

Ministers and global experts unveiled proposals for reforming the rules and governance of international taxation, and for addressing countries facing debt crises, including through new international mechanisms to resolve situations of sovereign debt default.

“The international financial architecture created nearly 80 years ago needs to be reformed to respond to the most pressing challenges of African countries in a more effective and inclusive manner,” said Mr. Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

“African countries are taking a leadership role in pressing for changes to global tax and financial systems, and they are clear that the international system needs to better support their sustainable development aspirations,” Gatete added.

MG/as/APA