US skips global UN meeting aimed at raising trillions of dollars to
combat poverty
[July 01, 2025]
By JOSEPH WILSON and EDITH M. LEDERER
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Leaders of many of the world’s nations, but not
the United States, gathered Monday in Spain to tackle the growing gap
between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars
needed to close it.
More than 70 world leaders and other delegates unanimously adopted the
so-called Seville Commitment — named for the host city — which had
previously been hammered out in the run-up to the meet, without changes.
It said delegates have agreed to launch “an ambitious package of reforms
and actions to close the financing gap with urgency.”
The gathering was held while many countries face escalating debt
burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and
increasing trade barriers. Still, there is hope that the world can
address one of the most important global challenges: ensuring all people
have access to food, health care, education and water.
“Financing is the engine of development. And right now, this engine is
sputtering,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in
his opening comments at the four-day Financing for Development meeting
being co-hosted by the U.N. and Spain.
The hosts said the meeting was an opportunity to close the staggering $4
trillion annual financing gap to promote development, bring millions of
people out of poverty and help achieve the U.N.’s badly lagging
Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
Along with heads of state and government, representatives of
international financial institutions, development banks, philanthropic
organizations, the private sector and civil society also attended.
The summit is an opportunity "for us to raise our voice in the face of
those who seek to convince us that rivalry and competition will set the
tone for humanity and for its future," Spain's Prime Minister Pedro
Sánchez told delegates.
'Collective mobilization'
At the last preparatory meeting on June 17, the United States rejected
the outcome document that had been negotiated for months by the U.N.’s
193 member nations and announced its withdrawal from the process and the
Seville conference.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed last week called the U.S.
withdrawal from the conference “unfortunate,” adding that after Seville,
“we will engage again with the U.S. and hope that we can make the case
that they be part of the success of pulling millions of people out of
poverty.”
The European Union and France also said they were not going be dissuaded
by the American-led trend toward unilateralism.
“Collective mobilization can still work,” French President Emmanuel
Macron said on Monday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed the bloc’s
commitment to development financing, saying, “Our commitment is here to
stay.”
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Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, left, speaks with United
Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as they pose for a photo
with nation leaders and representatives, at the start of the
four-day Financing for Development meeting, in Seville, Spain,
Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Angel Garcia)
Interest on debt payments
The Sevilla Commitment calls for a minimum tax revenue of 15% of a
country's gross domestic product to increase government resources, a
tripling of lending by multilateral development banks and scaling up of
private financing by providing incentives for investing in critical
areas like infrastructure. It also calls for reforms to help countries
deal with rising debt.
U.N. trade chief Rebeca Grynspan recently said “development is going
backward” and the global debt crisis has worsened.
Last year, 3.3 billion people were living in countries that pay more
interest on their debts than they spend on health or education, and the
number will increase to 3.4 billion people this year, according to
Grynspan. And developing countries will pay $947 billion to service
debts this year, up from $847 billion last year.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, speaking for the African Group, said
debt payments “consumes more resources than those allocated to health
and education combined” for many countries.
US objections
Jonathan Shrier, acting U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social
Council, told the June 17 meeting that “our commitment to international
cooperation and long-term economic development remains steadfast." He
said the text “crosses many of our red lines."
He said those include interfering with the governance of international
financial institutions, tripling the annual lending capacity of
multilateral development banks and proposals envisioning a role for the
U.N. in the global debt architecture.
Shrier also objected to proposals on trade, tax and innovation that are
not in line with U.S. policy, as well as language on a U.N. framework
convention on international tax cooperation.
The United States was the world’s largest single founder of foreign aid
before the Trump administration dismantled its main aid agency, the U.S.
Agency for International Development. It drastically slashed foreign
assistance funding, calling it wasteful and contrary to the Republican
president’s agenda.
Other Western donors also have cut back international aid.
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Lederer reported from the United Nations.
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