Sustainable Development Minister participates in FfD4 in Seville

Seville, June 30 (BNA): Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, Minister of Sustainable Development Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, participated in the United Nations’ Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held in Seville in Spain from 30 June to 3 July 2025.

The conference, in its fourth edition, serves as a key international platform that brings together world leaders, heads of international organizations, financial experts, and private sector representatives to collaborate on advancing sustainable development financing. This year’s discussions will focus on enhancing the international financial architecture and addressing funding challenges that hinder progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with priority areas including domestic resource mobilisation, data-driven policymaking, climate-aligned finance, debt sustainability, multilateral bank reform, aid transparency, and strengthened global partnerships.

The conference opened with a keynote address by His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, who emphasised the importance of advancing multilateral cooperation to establish resilient financing systems that meet evolving development needs, in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Letizia. During the opening session, HE Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of the Government of Spain was elected President of the Conference and stressed in his speech that development financing is a cornerstone for advancing global efforts toward achieving the SDGs.

The opening session also featured high-level remarks by António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General; Philémon Yang, President of the UN General Assembly; Bob Rae, President of the UN Economic and Social Council; Ajay Banga, World Bank Group President and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal, World Trade Organization Director-General. Collectively, they called for urgent and coordinated international action to address systemic financing gaps, climate-related challenges, and mounting debt burdens in developing countries, while highlighting the need to reform the global financial architecture to ensure it is fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable.

During the conference, the Compromiso de Sevilla (the Seville Commitment) was officially adopted and agreed upon. This outcome document outlined a renewed global framework for financing sustainable development, with particular emphasis on areas related to international tax cooperation and debt resolution.

Bahrain’s participation in the forum reiterates its longstanding commitment to international cooperation and its active support for global efforts to strengthen development financing by investing in the financial sector, promoting innovation, and fostering international partnerships, to build a more inclusive and sustainable future for generations to come.