The United Nations Conference on Financing for Development opened on Monday in Seville, Spain, bringing together at least 50 world leaders to address urgent global challenges such as poverty, hunger, climate change, healthcare, and peace—despite mounting concern over declining international development aid. This once-in-a-decade summit, scheduled to run through Thursday, comes at a time of historic cuts to development assistance, most notably by the United States under President Donald Trump, who withdrew more than 80% of USAID programmes shortly after taking office in January. The US is absent from the conference, a move that has drawn criticism from several quarters. Key figures attending the summit include UN Secretary-General António Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Kenyan President William Ruto, alongside over 4,000 participants from civil society, the private sector, and global financial institutions. Adding to the funding shortfall, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France have also reduced their aid budgets, reallocating resources to meet rising NATO defence obligations driven by pressure from Washington. Global humanitarian organisation Oxfam International warns that the current wave of aid reductions represents the largest since 1960, and the UN estimates a staggering $4 trillion annual gap in development finance needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The conference aims to restructure global financing in line with the 17 SDGs, adopted in 2015, but the withdrawal of major donors and shrinking budgets have cast doubt on the feasibility of achieving those targets within the remaining five-year window. A common declaration, negotiated earlier this month in New York, is expected to be signed during the conference. The document reaffirms commitments to gender equality, global cooperation, and reform of international financial institutions. While some, like Zambia’s UN ambassador Chola Milambo, hailed the declaration as a sign that multilateralism remains viable, Oxfam criticised the text for “lacking ambition,” arguing it prioritises the interests of the wealthy over the needs of the world’s poor. The conference continues amid street demonstrations in Seville, where activists are demanding a UN-led framework for sovereign debt resolution and greater accountability in international aid commitments.
