SEVILLE, Spain, June 30 (MENA) - Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has emphasized the importance of working to develop a roadmap to enhance developing countries’ access to concessional and low-cost financing.

This requires addressing existing imbalances in the global financial structure, proceeding with the reform of international financial institutions and multilateral development banks, and encouraging donor countries to fulfill their commitments, he said.

This came as part of a speech delivered by Madbouly on behalf of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during a general discussion session at the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), currently held in the Spanish city of Seville.

The session was attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and Egyptian Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation Rania el Mashat, along with several senior international officials.

Madbouly said the conference is held at a highly sensitive regional and global time marked by increasing geopolitical and security tensions, unilateral measures at the expense of development and multilateral cooperation, and a widening development gap among countries.

He also highlighted a global retreat in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an alarming growth in the development financing gap in recent years, the increasing impacts of climate change, and the disruption of the global trade landscape.

The current international approach does not indicate that SDGs will be met by 2030 as planned, which necessitates taking effective and tangible steps during this conference, the prime minister said.

He emphasized that the escalating global challenges faced by developing countries—especially rising poverty, declining food security, the digital divide, escalating debt, and the shortage and high cost of financing—require a more serious international response to prevent these countries from sliding into catastrophic crises that could threaten the global economy as a whole.

Madbouly also highlighted the launch of Egypt’s national platform for the NWFE program in 2022, which aims to mobilize development financing and stimulate the private sector's participation in development projects—particularly adaptation and mitigation projects—through innovative financing mechanisms and investment guarantee tools.

He affirmed Egypt’s readiness to participate in the proposed platform for the exchange of expertise and technical support in line with the UN secretary-general’s recommendations. (MENA)

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