"Investments in favor of sustainable development remain below expectations"

The fourth United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), which is taking place in Seville from 30 June to 3 July 2025, is a key step in rebuilding the global financial architecture, in order to meet the growing needs of developing countries and to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Faced with the debt crisis, persistent inequalities and the climate emergency, priorities include mobilizing new sources of financing, reforming debt management mechanisms, combating illicit financial flows, as well as strengthening international tax cooperation.

The conference aims in particular to adopt the "Seville Commitment", a political roadmap intended to steer public and private financing towards sustainable development, despite geopolitical tensions and the absence of certain key actors, notably the United States. We discuss it with Isolda Agazzi, media manager of Alliance Sud for French-speaking Switzerland.

First, are you satisfied with the compromise that should be adopted in Seville?

Not really. The final declaration, already drafted, contains no decisive progress in the face of the current and multiple crisis. The Seville Commitment is limited to identifying the problems and proposing cautious formulations such as: "We encourage (...) to consider options to improve the situation."

The strengthening of the United Nations' role in the debate on international development cooperation, expected by many developing countries and by civil society organizations, for example, does not appear in the final text. Discussions and decisions concerning the orientation of international cooperation remain confined to the small circle of OECD donors.

That being said, this final declaration contains relevant intentions regarding tax policy and debt relief, which should also prompt Switzerland to take concrete measures.

The Seville conference constitutes the first concrete opportunity to assess the international community's ability to make progress despite the absence of the United States.

According to the United Nations, developing countries suffer from a financing gap of 4 trillion dollars, an increase of 1.5 trillion in ten years… Your reaction?

It's scandalous, and it demonstrates how necessary this conference is more than ever.

For the record, at the Addis Ababa conference in 2015, great hopes were placed in the private sector and investors, with the idea that they would mobilize considerable financing in favour of the 2030 Agenda. The World Bank had then launched the slogan "From billions to trillions".

In practice, financial flows have remained limited. Only small amounts have continued to reach the poorest countries and the sectors essential to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

The final declaration moreover emphasizes that despite growing attention to innovative financial instruments, such as blended finance, and the adoption of laws aimed at promoting a sustainable economy and finance, investments for sustainable development remain below expectations. It also points to the lack of political priority given to this objective.

How should we react to the absence of the United States at the conference? Can we really imagine putting solutions in place without the world's leading power around the table?

The United States have largely disengaged from international cooperation, and this situation is likely to continue as long as Donald Trump occupies the presidency. It is therefore necessary to learn to move forward without their participation and to seek alternative solutions with other donor countries.

The Seville conference constitutes the first concrete opportunity to do so and represents an important test to assess the international community's ability to progress despite the absence of the world's largest economic power.

In the current logic of retreat into oneself, particularly among Western powers, can we still believe in multilateral solutions?

Global challenges require global responses, which can only be multilateral. This conference aims not only to mobilize external financing for development, but also to strengthen domestic resources and to promote the emergence of a more equitable international economic system.

The challenge will be to build alliances capable of implementing the concrete measures provided in the FfD4 final document, and thus help to meet common challenges on the road to sustainable development. But at this stage, it is still very uncertain whether these commitments will translate into concrete actions, and to what extent.

If international economic policies and North-South relations were more coherent and equitable, developed countries would no longer have to mobilize so many resources.

The issue is mainly financial… Where can the funds be found while Western powers themselves are overindebted?

If international economic policies and North-South relations were more coherent and equitable, developed countries would no longer have to mobilize so many resources. Alliance Sud has sketched out avenues in "The New Deal", a special issue of our magazine "Global", which has just been published.

And Switzerland in all this? Is our country sufficiently involved in the fight against poverty?

No, not sufficiently. Measures to combat tax evasion and illicit financial flows are therefore rightly among the priorities on the agenda. Issues related to debt, debt relief, trade, development, as well as the reform of the international financial architecture and the role of companies and public aid are also at the heart of the debates. All these subjects particularly concern wealthy countries, including Switzerland.

Will the success or failure of this conference be decisive for the next COP in Belém (Brazil)?

No, not directly, because the stakes are not identical. However, this conference will send an important political signal ahead of the COP, and it is therefore essential that this signal be positive.

This article has been automatically translated using AI. If you notice any errors, please don't hesitate to contact us.