Article prepared by the New Financial Architecture Team, Latindadd
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held in Seville, fell short of the structural transformation demanded by the Global South and civil society. Nevertheless, the Seville Commitment left some windows of opportunity open: the creation of an intergovernmental process on debt under the auspices of the United Nations, the establishment of a Debtors’ Forum to enhance coordination among borrowing countries, and the promotion of responsible borrowing and lending principles, building on UNCTAD’s work.
Notable proposals also include the introduction of debt service suspension clauses in contexts of crises or disasters, the creation of a more transparent global debt data registry, and measures to lower the cost of financing through local currency lending and the revision of risk premiums. Furthermore, there is encouragement to strengthen national legal frameworks to enable broader creditor participation in restructuring processes.
However, the final outcome avoids any profound change: it makes no progress towards a United Nations Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt, upholds the dominance of the IMF and the G20, and reinforces ineffective mechanisms such as the Common Framework. The current architecture continues to reproduce inequalities and exclude those most affected—particularly women. In light of this, organisations from the Global South and civil society are calling to seize the opportunities that have emerged to advance a genuine and participatory reform of the international financial architecture.
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