Sevilla, Spain
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
I extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Remy Rioux and France Developpement Agency, and the FICS, Finance in Common Network for bringing us together today.
This Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development presents a crucial opportunity to inject ambition, urgency, and concrete financial commitments into the 2030 Agenda.
Achieving sustainable development requires a large-scale investment push focused on development impact, and a reform of the international financial architecture.
On both fronts, public development banks are the key drivers of change.
Excellencies,
The FFD4 outcome document -- the Sevilla Commitment -- firmly places public development banks at the center of delivering our global financing for development goals.
National and multilateral development banks are uniquely positioned to provide direct public investment while also leveraging private investment.
When well-managed, national PDBs strengthen the financial ecosystem, enhancing the ability of both public and private sectors to invest in sustainable development.
Their ground-level knowledge helps international investors navigate operational and reputational risks, while also building capacity and providing technical assistance. PDBs are key actors in national policy and institutional framework.
Allow me to highlight how the Sevilla Commitment provides a clear action plan.
First, it calls for strengthening existing PDBs through technical support, capacity building, and increased capital, especially to those in need.
Second, it calls for the establishment of new national development banks in countries that do not have them.
Third, it seeks to better align regulatory requirements with the unique development mandates of PDBs.
There is much scope for PDBs to innovate, correct market failures and ensure financial and non-financial sustainability.
Most importantly, the Sevilla Commitment emphasizes cooperation between multilateral development banks and national development banks, working as a system.
This includes co-financing, joint programming, risk exchange, joint project preparation, hybrid capital, peer learning, and more -- fostering synergies and leveraging comparative advantages.
Excellencies,
The genesis of the Finance in Common Summit and the network of PDBs was the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, in 2015.
Now, ten years later, it is time to elevate that vision.
I am happy to have co-signed the foreword to the PDB Reference Book that we are launching today. It builds on the incredible work of colleagues at multiple institutions and the FICS research network. This is a comprehensive resource for a new era of public development banking.
We have the plan in the Seville Commitment and the knowledge in this new PDB Reference Book. The time has come to put PDBs at the center of the international financial system ¨C and move decisively from aspiration to action.
Thank you.