A global climate summit wrapped up on Friday with leaders agreeing that the international financial system was woefully inadequate in an era of global warming, after taking a number of small steps to helping debt-burdened developing nations.
While host country France pitched the conference as a consensus-building exercise, leaders were under pressure to produce clear outcomes from the two-day meeting as economies stagger under growing debt after successive crises over the past few years.
The summit comes amid warnings that the world’s ability to curb global warming is reliant on a massive increase in clean energy investment in developing countries.
Photo: EPA-EFE
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed a “complete consensus” to reform global financial institutions and make them “more efficient, fairer and better suited to the world of today.”
About 40 national leaders gathered in Paris, most from developing countries whose economies have been buffeted by crises in recent years, including COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, soaring inflation and extreme weather events.
The conference heard time and again that the nearly 80-year-old financial system — underpinned by the World Bank and the IMF — was no longer fit-for-purpose in facing 21st century challenges.
“With this mechanism, the rich are always rich and the poor are always poor,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
While there was agreement on the broad outlines of the problem, there was less progress on steering the global financial juggernaut in a new direction, although there were several incremental initiatives and advancements on existing promises.
World Bank President Ajay Banga on Thursday said the lender would introduce a “pause” mechanism on debt repayments for countries hit by a crisis so they could “focus on what matters.”
One key announcement came from IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, who said a pledge to shift US$100 billion of liquidity-boosting “special drawing rights” into a climate and poverty fund had been met.
Overall, the progress made was “not sufficient,” said Friederike Roder, vice president of global advocacy at Global Citizen, adding that the IMF target included a US pledge of US$21 billion that is stuck at the US Congress.
However, she said the meeting had managed to “totally change the conversation” on tough issues that have up to now been mostly kicked into the long grass.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS