SUMMIT FOR A NEW GLOBAL FINANCING PACT, PARIS, JUNE 22-23, 2023

The international community’s responses are currently fragmented, partial and insufficient. We therefore call for a fundamental overhaul of our approach. Together, we need to build a more responsive, fairer and more inclusive international financial system to fight inequalities, finance the climate transition, and bring us closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

MIA MOTTLEY, Prime Minister of Barbados

We will take a major step, as we will start by establishing a new consensus. The fight against poverty, the decarbonization of our economy in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and the protection of biodiversity, are closely intertwined. We therefore need to agree together on the best means to address these challenges in the poor and emerging countries of the developing world, when it comes to the amount of investment, to comprehensive reform of infrastructure like the World Bank, the IMF, and public and private funds, and how to set a new process in motion.

EMMANUEL MACRON, President of the french Republic

In November 2022, on the occasion of the G20 Summit and at the end of a COP27 with mixed results, Emmanuel Macron announced the organization of an international conference in Paris in June 2023, aimed at taking stock “on all the means and ways of increasing financial solidarity with the South”.

This announcement took place in a particular international context: while the climate crisis threatens in particular the countries of the Global South (and including island states), the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has been leading since COP26 an initiative for financing climate action. This "Bridgetown Initiative" aims to facilitate access to international financing for the countries most vulnerable to climate change to enable them to better respond to climate challenges.

While President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement is in line with the Bridgetown initiative, the June 2023 summit aims to propose solutions to finance issues that go beyond the climate question, including access to health and the fight against poverty. The Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and their successive consequences have indeed reduced the fiscal and budgetary space of many countries, affecting their ability to finance their populations’ access to basic social services. As a result, the UNDP noted a decline in human development in nine out of ten countries around the world in 2022, mainly due to a drop in life expectancy and an increase in poverty.

In a statement on January 6, 2023, Catherine Colonna, the French minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, declared the summit would aim to “build a new contract with the North and the South”, in order to facilitate the access of vulnerable countries to the financing they need to address the consequences of ongoing and future crises.

The same day, the Secretary of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, and the Permanent Representative of France to the OECD, Amélie de Montchalin, took part in a webinar organized by the Finance for Development Lab on the issues at stake at the upcoming Summit. On this occasion, four main objectives were announced, which will be followed up on by four working groups :

• Restore fiscal space to countries facing short-term difficulties, especially the most indebted countries
• Fostering private sector development in low-income countries
• Encourage investment in "green" infrastructure for the energy transition in emerging and developing countries
• Mobilize innovative financing for countries vulnerable to climate change.

In addition, a group of high-level experts, the One Planet Lab, will be responsible for formulating proposals to mobilize innovative sources of financing.

The Summit’s ambition is to bring together several agendas (climate, development, debt) and to propose innovative solutions to address these issues. It is part of a series of other international events that will take place during the year (G20, SDG Summit, COP28, etc.) and aims to push for concrete results on these occasions. In order to ensure its success, the organizers have expressed their interest in benefiting from the contributions of civil society and private sector actors.

The Summit is scheduled to take place on 22-23 June 2023 in Paris, as announced in a joint statement by the Franco-German Council of Ministers on January 22. The first day of the Summit will be punctuated by an opening ceremony, followed by 6 round tables, 30 branded events and over 50 parallel events. A closing ceremony will take place on the morning of June 23 to announce the conclusions of the Summit discussions.

Numerous leaders have already been confirmed, including Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany, Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique, Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, President of Brazil, and many others. Numerous representatives of international organizations, philanthropists and activists will also be present: Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Vanessa Nakate, activist and UN Goodwill Ambassador, Melinda French Gates, philanthropist and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and more.

The preparation of the summit is carried out by a high-level international steering committee composed of states and international organizations. It includes France, Barbados, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, Senegal, the European Commission, the United Nations Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the OECD.