ROMA/NEW YORK, APRIL 25 – Addressing the 2022 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Marina Sereni, pointed to Italy’s strong engagement towards the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda, from global health to economy, to the fight against climate change.
“Financing for developing is an essential part of the solution,” Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on behalf of the UN chief, adding that so far, the global response has fallen far short. The President of ECOSOC, Collen Vixen Kelapile, brought the attendees up to date on an increasing array of interrelated global crises that underline that no country, rich or poor, is immune to external shocks. He said that the SDGs are facing perhaps the “greatest threat” since their adoption. COVID-19 has exacerbated trends that are “contributing to cataclysmic effects” on development, he said, and the poorest and most vulnerable are impacted the greatest. “Millions of people around the world have been pushed deeper into extreme poverty. Inequality is rising, and the gap between developed and developing countries is growing,” said the senior UN official.
On global health, Italy has contributed so far 385 million euro to the Covax Facility and has donated over 50 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. “This is not enough: we are working on ‘last mile’ initiatives to increase absorption capacities on the ground and strengthen health systems”, said Sereni.
On economy, as G20 Presidency, Italy has been one of the main sponsors of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) that contributed to relieving the impact of the pandemic in beneficiary Countries. “In 2021, we also supported an unprecedented general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of 100 billion $ by the International Monetary Fund to help Countries most in need to cope with the pandemic. Our efforts should now focus on the implementation of the Common Framework at Country level [Chad, Ethiopia and Zambia have applied so far] so as to provide sustainable solutions to address debt challenges”, Sereni said.
On climate change, the world is at a crossroads: “Industrialized Countries must deliver on our climate finance commitments, focusing on adaptation. Let us intensify our collective efforts and involve non-State actors and the International Financial Institutions, in the run up to CoP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh”. In order to deliver on the USD 100bln climate finance goal, Italy pledged USD 1.4 bln yearly for the next five years, including the creation of a dedicated Italian Fund for Climate, with about USD 1 bln yearly for five years.
Noting its universal participation, the ECOSOC president Kelapile described the Forum as “the global platform we need to advance action on these challenges”. As a Forum that “unites us”, and with a track record of “delivering consensus,” he called for an “ambitious outcome, that demonstrates the solidarity of Member States in these trying times.” (@OnuItalia)
