Sevilla, Spain
Her Excellency Ms. Ana Isabel Xavier, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Portugal,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
To chart a course for success from Sevilla and beyond, with a focus on MVI. We need a fundamental reset.
In the last five years, the international community has faced a cascade of crises.
These challenges actively hinder economic growth and obstruct our progress towards building resilient societies and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. We need to deliver new solutions and opportunities. We need a fundamental reset.
This reset must address two core dysfunctions:
? First, the existing international financial architecture, characterized by rules and criteria that unfairly penalize developing countries. Gross National Income per capita, despite its inherent limitations, remains the principal determinant for accessing finance.
? Second, a system where capital is excessively costly and delivered belatedly. Restricted access to affordable finance impedes developing countries¡¯ ability to invest in their future. The available financing is often reactive, delivered only after a crisis hits. This inevitably leads to overwhelming debt burdens, forcing many vulnerable middle-income countries to spend more on debt service than on health, education, or infrastructure.
But there is hope.
The establishment of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) signals a vital recognition that vulnerability to external shocks is a primary obstacle to sustainable development.
The Seville Commitment represents a crucial turning point.
It officially acknowledges that income-based indicators such as GDP and GNI fails to capture the full complexity of countries¡¯ development realities and structural vulnerabilities.
It commits the global community to improve development cooperation and access to development finance, including concessional finance.
Crucially, it invites International Financial Institutions, Multilateral Development Banks , and international organizations to adopt the MVI as a complementary tool to guide their development cooperation policies and financing decisions.
The new Debt Sustainability Support Service, born from the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Action, is a critical component of a strengthened debt architecture, enabling SIDS and other developing countries to better manage their debt, support tailored solutions and negotiate on a more equitable footing.
To capitalize on this momentum, we need concerted action.
Developing countries must advance transformative national development agendas that shockproof their vulnerable economies.
In parallel, the international community must deliver targeted financing at speed and scale.
For this to work, consideration of multidimensional vulnerability and its impact cannot be an exception; it must be the norm in the financing policies of IFIs and development partners.
The MVI designed and led by SIDS can help overcome the persistent lack of coordination across IFIs and MDBs, which often leads to the unequal treatment of highly vulnerable middle-income countries who are cut off from access to development resources.
Excellencies,
The MVI is not a panacea. Tough conversations on debt sustainability, credit ratings, and currency risks are still essential. However, it can be an indispensable tool to begin correcting the deep-seated inequities of our system.
Let us seize this moment. Let us champion the MVI. It is time to reset the system for a resilient and equitable future
It is time to reset the system for a resilient and equitable future for all.
Thank you!