Overview

• The fourth UN Conference on Financing for Development convened in Seville with over 50 heads of state in the latest effort to tackle mounting SDG funding shortfalls.
• The United States did not send a delegation to Seville and USAID officially ceased operations on July 1 after deep budget cuts.
• UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed expressed optimism that the US would return to a central role in global development assistance.
• Oxfam said the conference highlighted significant obstacles for developing countries to meet SDG targets and called for stronger multilateral frameworks.
• Participants backed proposals to triple the World Bank’s lending capacity and increase developing countries’ voting power at the UN to help address a $4 trillion annual financing gap.