Seville, Spain, July 1, 2025 (Lusa) - The President of Guinea-Bissau has said that countries like his need resources for development "far beyond" what they can mobilise with the current international financing architecture and called for more realistic approaches.
"Countries such as Guinea-Bissau need to mobilise significant resources" to achieve the sustainable development goals agreed by the international community "far beyond what is currently possible with domestic revenues or external aid," said Umaro Sissoco Umbaló at the plenary session of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which kicked off on Monday in Seville.
Umaro Sissoco Umbaló pointed out that this is the fourth UN conference on financing for development, but "unfortunately the commitments and goals made previously have not been fully achieved."
"It is time to review our approach and find more realistic financing mechanisms that are better suited to the needs of developing countries," he said before an assembly of representatives from more than 190 UN countries.
Umaro Sissoco Umbaló also highlighted the burden of foreign debt on developing countries, which "makes it more difficult to invest in sustainable development," and called for "more flexibility and more balanced treatment in the international financial system."
"Guinea-Bissau advocates a thorough reform of the international financial architecture to make it fairer, more equitable and more accessible to the most vulnerable countries," he said.
Umamro Sissoco Umbalo stressed that it is necessary to leave Seville "with positive results" and that developing countries expect "concrete decisions capable of mobilising the entire international community in favour of development and the eradication of poverty".
The President of Guinea-Bissau also stressed that, in the 80 years since the UN was founded, the world needs global and lasting peace, multilateralism and strengthened international cooperation "more than ever".
More than 60 world leaders are attending the conference in Seville on financing for development, which comes ten years after the previous conference in Ethiopia in 2015.
The conference plenary, representing more than 190 UN countries, on Monday formally adopted the ‘Seville Commitment,’ a commitment for the next decade on international cooperation and financing and development, which the UN estimates currently has a deficit of US$4 trillion per year.
In the 68-page document, the international community affirms that it is necessary to "renew the global development financing framework" at a time of "serious geopolitical tensions and conflicts" and when the goals agreed by the international community in the 2030 Agenda are "seriously delayed".
According to UN accounts, the current deficit in development aid is 1.5 trillion more than ten years ago, and in 2024 official development aid fell for the first time in the last six years, with a further decline of 20% expected by 2025.
In the ‘Seville Commitment’, the international community makes commitments to create new mechanisms for mobilising development aid, implementing investments and managing the sovereign debt of the most vulnerable or developing countries, recognised in the document as one of the major obstacles to sustainable development.
The text also emphasises that only the strengthening of multilateralism can respond to the urgent need to eradicate poverty and address the impacts of climate change.
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