The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation co-chairs the high-level meeting of the OECD Development Centre, which is being promoted by Spain, and analyses with the Director-General of UNESCO events such as the Fourth Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has made progress in Paris in the preparatory work for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). He has done so in the framework of the 2024 high-level meeting of the OECD Development Centre (DEV) that Spain has promoted to contribute to the success of the process that will lead to the holding of this important event in July 2025 in Seville.
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Albares prepares in Paris for the Seville International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025
Albares, who has served as co-chair of this high-level meeting after Spain’s active participation in the decision to dedicate this meeting to financing for development, has relied on this inclusive platform for exchange between OECD countries and developing partners to advance the work that will lead to the Seville Conference on Financing for Development.
New contributions
And, in this framework, Minister Albares announced two new voluntary contributions from Spain, totalling 595,000 euros, to support the Centre’s work on government revenue statistics, especially in Africa, but also in Latin America and the Caribbean; as well as for the Virtual Investment Platform for Africa.
LEO Report
Minister Albares also chaired the official launch of the ‘Latin American Economic Outlook – LEO 2024’. Under the title ‘Financing Sustainable Development’, it seeks to identify and analyse alternative sources of financing in an environment of fiscal constraints in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is one of the OECD’s flagship reports, which is carried out jointly with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean) and the European Commission.
During his speech at the presentation of the seventeenth edition of this report, the Minister announced that Spain will work to find common ground and shared visions in important areas such as development in transition, the use of indicators such as the multidimensional vulnerability index, triangular and South-South cooperation, gender equality, climate change and the loss of biodiversity.
Albares expressed his desire to build more inclusive and sustainable societies, for which he considered it necessary to grow, close gaps and fight inequalities. In this sense, he pointed out that financing is fundamental to achieve this objective, as is working better with the private sector, from a perspective of cohesion, inclusion and social justice.
Prior to these meetings, and on the sidelines of the OECD, the Minister had the opportunity to meet with the Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, with whom he discussed issues such as the elections for the UNESCO Directorate General, as well as the events in which Spain will collaborate with this organisation in the near future, including the 4th Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination and Mondiacult, which Barcelona will host in September 2025.