The Diplomat
The State Secretary for International Cooperation (SECI), Pilar Cancela Rodríguez, participated last Thursday in Belitung (Indonesia), on behalf of Spain, in the meeting of G20 Development Ministers, meeting under the slogan Recover together, Recover stronger.
This ministerial meeting is the culmination of a year of negotiations of the G20 Development Working Group during the Indonesian Presidency. The meeting was divided into two sessions, one dedicated to Boosting SDG achievements by strengthening resilience to future crises and promoting innovative financing mechanisms and a second entitled Strengthening the global commitment to multilateralism to achieve the SDGs on time. Pilar Cancela addressed both sessions.
The State Secretary stated in her remarks that, “in a highly interdependent world where external shocks can affect all corners, the G20 can be an essential tool to effectively address global challenges”.
She also highlighted “the global efforts undertaken by the international community to collectively overcome COVID-19,” which “have been an example of how much we can achieve by working together,” and recalled, in this regard, COVID-19 vaccination “as a global public good,” the rapid creation of the COVID-19 Toolkit Accelerator (ACT-A) and the creation of the Financial Intermediary Fund for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.
Cancela also reiterated, along with other EU G20 states, that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a set of crises, precipitating food insecurity, energy insecurity and tightening financial conditions. In this context, she concluded, “the world needs international collaboration and cooperation more than ever.” “In the case of Spain, development cooperation is at the core of what we do in our foreign policy,” she assured.
