SEVILLE, June 30 (MENA) - Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli participated Monday in the opening session of the Fourth United Nations (UN) International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) on behalf of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

The conference is being hosted in Seville, Spain, from June 30 to July 3, 2025, with the participation of King Felipe VI of Spain, more than 70 heads of state and government, as well as leaders of international financial institutions, representatives of civil society organizations, philanthropic institutions and the private sector and companies across various fields, particularly the energy, food systems and digital industries sectors.

During his speech at the opening session, King Felipe VI of Spain expressed his appreciation for Seville hosting the conference. He highlighted the importance of fulfilling commitments to financing development and multilateral international cooperation, as well as the need for international collaboration for the sake of future generations. He also emphasized the necessity of honoring international pledges, the efficiency of policies implemented in the field of financing for development, and the role of multilateral frameworks and processes in this regard.

The opening session began with the formal election of the conference president, followed by a number of speeches, including addresses by the conference president; the UN secretary-general, the president of the UN general assembly, the president of the economic and social council, the president of the World Bank; the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the director-general of the World Trade Organization and the secretary-general of the conference.

Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain and President of the FfD4, stressed the importance of committing to the pledges and initiatives that would be proposed during the conference and via the Seville platform. The Spanish prime minister pointed to the need to reform international financial institutions to make them fairer and more representative of countries, underlining the significance of dialogue based on respect and non-discrimination among nations, as well as the value of the multilateral international framework. He noted that the conference would represent an important opportunity that should be seized to address the challenges of financing development.

During the session, UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke about the challenges facing development efforts amid international geopolitical tensions, and emphasized the importance of mobilizing financial resources to confront development challenges and create new financing mechanisms. The UN chief also highlighted the need to reform international financial institutions to make them more representative and transparent.

In his speech, Volkan Bozkır, President of the UN General Assembly, stressed the need to work towards achieving the goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, as well as addressing the burden of debt on developing countries and developing new mechanisms for low-cost financing that align with the needs of these countries.

Moreover, the participants' speeches underscored the importance of supporting efforts to finance development in developing countries, multilateral international cooperation to face development challenges, and the role of international financial institutions in supporting development programs. (MENA)

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