<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, assured this Monday that the government maintains its commitment to reaching 0.7 percent for development aid by 2030, amid the debate within the EU and NATO regarding an increase in the defense budget and following Spain's refusal to raise military spending to five percent, contravening the position of the United States and the decision of the recent NATO Summit in The Hague.</strong></h4> “There is a debate in some member states of the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance on the issue of military spending,” declared Pedro Sánchez at the joint press conference with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, following the plenary meeting of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), which began that same day in Seville. “They know the position of the Government of Spain,” he explained. “We believe that, right now, the message that needs to be conveyed is a message of strength for multilateralism, that all member states, particularly those of the European Union, actively engage in multilateral debates on gender equality, the climate challenge, inequality, poverty, and orderly migration,” he declared. “All these debates require presence; they require, of course, the holding of summits as important as this one, and something also very important: political will and financial resources,” he emphasized. “Of course, the Government of Spain maintains its roadmap of 0.7% by 2030,” he asserted. For his part, António Guterres announced his intention to present, "very soon," a report "on the impact of the arms race and its spending on sustainable development." "There is one observation I would like to make: it is up to each country to determine its defense needs, but there was much talk at this conference, especially in relation to developing countries, about the need to mobilize its own resources. I think that if a country believes it needs to increase its defense spending, it should use its own resources to do so and not finance the increase in defense spending by reducing humanitarian aid to the world's most vulnerable people," he warned. <h5><strong>United Nations House in Madrid</strong></h5> On another note, Pedro Sánchez announced the creation of the United Nations House in Madrid, which will house teams from UN agencies that may be "affected" by policies cutting international cooperation and that wish to relocate their headquarters to the Spanish capital. "The Center in the Spanish capital will host teams from several United Nations agencies, so they can continue carrying out their work in the safety, support, and recognition that our country will provide them," he declared. With this decision, he asserted, Spain will consolidate its position as a center of reference for international organizations, for which it will create a new regulatory framework that attracts international financial institutions, multilateral development banks, and international NGOs. "Faced with the evident weakening of the multilateral order, countries like Spain are going to dedicate ourselves to the exact opposite: to defending and promoting it, because today, more than ever, the world needs a strong United Nations, capable of addressing the major global challenges facing humanity," he continued. “Spain is lending a hand at a critical moment for the multilateral system, offering to host such important global conferences as the Conference on Financing for Sustainable Development and offering capacity, in this case in the Spanish capital, to host teams from United Nations agencies that may be affected by the cuts,” he added. “In a world where some raise walls, Spain is committed to dialogue; where others sow distrust, we work for understanding; where institutions are weakened, we strengthen them. Because multilateralism is not an option: it is the only way to address global challenges,” he stated. <h5><strong>Seville Plan</strong></h5> <div dir="ltr"><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Likewise, Pedro Sánchez announced his intention to present the "Seville Plan for Multilateralism" this Tuesday, a "commitment by the Spanish government and Spanish society as a whole to multilateralism" that, among other things, will include the opening of the aforementioned United Nations House in Madrid.</span></span></span></div> <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr">This decision follows the approval, this Monday at the International Conference plenary session, of the Seville Commitment, a political declaration that calls for reforming the global financial system to make it "more inclusive, equitable, and resilient" and to give a more prominent role to the United Nations and multilateral financial institutions.</div> To this end, the Seville Commitment includes concrete proposals to mobilize more international resources: increased official development assistance, promotion of South-South cooperation, reforms to multilateral development banks, and mechanisms to reduce the cost of capital. In addition, measures are proposed to combat illicit financial flows, recover corrupt assets, and ensure transparency in corporate ownership. This ambitious package aims to close financing gaps and build a fairer, greener, and more secure future for all.
