Published 06/03/2025 17:56 | Edited 06/03/2025 18:19
The year 2025 will be a decisive milestone for multilateralism, according to the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; and the government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, in an article published on Thursday (6) in the newspaper The globe (Exclusive for newspaper subscribers). Leaders point out that the world faces urgent and interconnected challenges such as growing inequalities, climate change and financing deficit for sustainable development. To face them, they argue that coordinated action between countries is necessary, avoiding setbacks and isolationism.
Three great meetings for the future
Three international events will be fundamental to discuss concrete solutions: the 4th International Conference on Development Financing (FFD4) in Seville (Spain); The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Belém (Brazil); and the G20 summit in Johannesburg (South Africa). According to the officers, these meetings represent a “unique opportunity” to advance on concrete commitments, and can not just become another debate without results.
The need for a new financial architecture
In the article, Lula, Ramaphosa and Sánchez emphasize that economic inequality is on the rise, both within countries and among them. They point out that many developing nations suffer from unsustainable debts and lack of access to fair financing, which compromises investments in essential areas such as health and education.
Given this scenario, leaders defend a reform in global financial architecture, expanding the representativeness of the global south and creating mechanisms that allow more equitable access to resources. They indicate that the G20, under the leadership of South Africa, will prioritize initiatives such as debt relief, new financing mechanisms and reduction of the high cost of capital for developing nations.
The Seville Meeting (FFD4) will be crucial to ensuring firmer commitments towards more robust financial cooperation, addressing topics such as the taxation of global wealth and efficient feature channels, such as the Special International Monetary Fund (IMF) rights.
The urgency of the just climate transition
Another central point of the article is the discussion about financing for a fair climate transition. The officers point out that for many developing countries, the adoption of sustainable models is still out of reach due to lack of resources. To overcome this barrier, COP30, which will be held in Belém, needs to transform climatic commitments into concrete results.
One of the main challenges, according to the authors, is to significantly expand financing for climate adaptation and ensure that multilateral development banks play a more active role in environmental financing. The Baku-Belém script, which proposes to increase climate investments in developing countries to at least $ 1.3 trillion per year by 2035, will be one of the main agenda discussed.
Cooperation in response to global fragmentation
Presidents warn of increasing global fragmentation, but argue that this should not be an obstacle to international cooperation. On the contrary, they see in the multilateral meetings of 2025 an opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to sustainable development, inclusive growth and environmental protection.
“Johannesburg, Belém and Seville need to serve as bastions of multilateral cooperation, demonstrating that nations are able to unite around common interests,” they say.
At the end of the article, the three leaders call all nations, international institutions, private sector and civil society to be up to current challenges. “Multilateralism is capable and needs to generate results, because the risks are too high to allow failure,” they conclude.
Source: vermelho.org.br
