French President Emmanuel Macron has held talks with his Chadian counterpart, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, in preparation for the upcoming summit on a New Global Financing Pact. The discussions will primarily focus on debt restructuring and poverty reduction, aiming to realign with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
While climate-related matters will take center stage during the summit, which is scheduled for Thursday (June 22) and Friday (June 23), President Macron also welcomed Gabon’s President Ali Bongo to the Elysée Palace.
Approximately 50 heads of state and government, along with financial leaders and activists from around the world, will be attending the Global Financing Pact summit in Paris. Their objective is to revamp international development institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, ensuring their resilience in the face of the climate crisis that has further destabilised developing nations.
Criticism has been directed at organizations like the IMF for neglecting to consider the climate crisis in their lending decisions, which are often plagued by excessive delays. Moreover, these institutions are accused of being controlled by affluent nations, with the developing countries most vulnerable to global warming left marginalized.
The Global Financing Pact summit’s outcome will determine whether significant progress can be made in creating a fairer World Financial Architecture. On Thursday, experts are expected to announce that the commitment to provide $100 billion in annual aid to impoverished nations for addressing global change is projected to be met for the first time this year. Originally made in 2009 and reaffirmed at the 2015 Paris climate summit, this promise has remained unfulfilled until now.