The ‘Summit for a New Global Financing Pact’ announced by French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 in November 2022 (see EUROPE 13064/20), will be held on 22 and 23 June 2023 at the Palais Brongniart in Paris. Chaired by France, and co-organised with India - which leads the G20 this year - this international event echoes the Bridgetown initiative by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, which aims to give vulnerable countries easier access to international financing to tackle climate change.
The summit also aims to propose financing solutions for broader issues, such as access to healthcare and the fight against poverty.
And for good reason: in a context marked by the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and multiple crises that have reduced the budgetary and fiscal space of many countries, and faced with a decline in human development in nine out of ten countries (according to the United Nations Development Programme - UNDP), the Summit aims to establish a new financial contract between the North and the South to deal with the consequences of these crises.
Four major objectives were announced: restoring fiscal space for the most indebted countries, developing the private sector in low-income countries, encouraging investment in green infrastructure for the energy transition, and mobilising innovative financing for countries vulnerable to climate change.
The first day of the Summit will be organised around an opening ceremony followed by six round tables, thirty labelled events and around fifty parallel events. On the morning of 23 June, the conclusions of the Summit discussions will be announced.
Expected topics include reform of the Bretton Woods financial institutions, suspension of debt repayments for countries hit by natural disasters, and the creation of new global taxes, notably on CO2 emissions from shipping.
By bringing together world leaders, heads of international organisations, representatives of civil society, foundations and the private sector, the summit aims to foster partnerships and collaboration to find concrete solutions and innovative financing mechanisms. Nevertheless, according to the organisers, the aim is to create a political dynamic to strengthen collective commitments, and therefore to establish guidelines rather than take specific decisions.
To this end, a high-level group of experts, the ‘One Planet Lab’, will be tasked with drawing up proposals for mobilising innovative sources of funding. A joint roadmap is expected for upcoming international events such as the G20 (9-10 September), the Sustainable Development Goals Summit (19-20 September) and COP28 ( 30 November-12 December). (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)