Emmanuel Macron opened the “summit for a new financial pact” by asking the fifty or so heads of state or government gathered on Thursday June 22 in Paris for a “public funding shock” in the face of the climate crisis and poverty. This summit, which he is hosting, aims to unlock the overhaul of the global economic system.
The head of state called for a “general mobilization”, noting that there was “a lot of money”, but not necessarily “in the service of the progress of the planet”. “We have a financial system that is the result of a past consensus [which] probably isn’t moving fast enough, which is no longer quite suitable and which needs to be realigned with our objectives. »
The young Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, invited to speak immediately after the president, began by urging the heads of state and government in front of her to respect a minute of silence “for all those who are already suffering and who are hungry, who are displaced, who drop out of school”. The leaders did not take their eyes off her, in grave silence. She called for “a fair exit from fossil fuels”, directly attacking the profits of Western oil companies. “Broken promises cost lives,” she said.
The work at the Brongniart Palace in central Paris is not expected to lead to concrete decisions, but will benefit from the weight of the audience of guests: UN chief Antonio Guterres and Brazilian President Lula will be present as well as the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Washington will “push” for creditors from poor and developing countries to participate in negotiations to restructure their debts, according to a speech by Ms Yellen Thursday morning in Paris. China, in particular, one of the world’s main creditors, is regularly singled out for its lack of participation in a common restructuring framework with Western countries.
Beijing is represented at this summit by its Prime Minister Li Qiang, Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. About twenty African leaders are there, several of whom have recently raised their voices against the rich countries, which are quicker to pay billions to support Ukraine at war.
The objective of the summit is to urgently renovate the international financial architecture, born of the Bretton Woods agreements in 1944 with the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). Access to their funding is considered difficult by developing countries, while their needs are immense to face heat waves, droughts and floods, but also to get out of poverty while freeing themselves from fossil fuels and preserving nature.
Among the many ideas being debated, that of an international tax on carbon emissions from maritime transport is gaining momentum.
World leaders are talking about other taxes, but also institutional reforms, the restructuring of the debts of poor countries, a strengthening of the role of the private sector… The suspension of debt payment in the event of a natural disaster is strongly supported by Mia Mottley.
Multilateral development banks will also be called upon to lend more, a few months after the announcement of the mobilization of 50 billion dollars over ten years by the WB. Its new president, Ajay Banga, will be there, as will the managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva.