UNCTAD16 press conference: Launch of the Sevilla Forum on Debt

Secretary-General Guterres,
Minister Cuerpo,
Under-Secretary-General Li,
Ladies and gentlemen,

The launch of the Sevilla Forum on Debt marks a real breakthrough. We are proud that the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has been chosen as the stage for this important step.

Here we put the focus on developing countries – on what debt means for their economies and for people’s lives.

Secretary-General Guterres and Minister Cuerpo have already spoken about the challenges we face, and the solutions this Forum will provide. So allow me to add just one more point:

If you look at bond markets, the world is not in crisis. Things look stable. There have been no major sovereign defaults since 2022. It’s easy to mistake this for success.

But markets are not suffering – people are. Right now, countries are avoiding default not by growing their economies, but by slashing budgets for hospitals, schools and infrastructure. Today, 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on servicing debt than on health or education – 100 million more than last year. This isn’t resilience – it’s a slow erosion of development, one budget cut at a time.

The absence of a financial crisis is not the same as stability or prosperity. True stability means countries can plan beyond the next payment, invest in their future, and build – not just survive. What we have now is perpetual crisis management dressed up as normality.

This Sevilla Forum on Debt offers a path from that fragile balance to genuine stability and prosperity – not through quick fixes, but through the patient work of building an architecture where debt serves development instead of consuming it. Where creditors and borrowers coordinate before crises hit, where principles guide practice, where lessons learned in one country can inform another. I repeat: this is a great breakthrough.

Minister Cuerpo, by hosting this Forum, Spain is ensuring that the Compromiso de Sevilla endures well beyond the headlines. You’re giving it permanence, resources, and institutional weight. UNCTAD and UN DESA stand ready with decades of technical expertise to make this Forum deliver real outcomes.

The Sevilla Commitment was the promise. This Forum is how we deliver.

I thank you.