The United States has announced that it will not attend a key UN development conference as the Trump administration implements sweeping cuts to foreign aid.
The United States said on Tuesday.
Jonathan Schrier, the US envoy to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, said his country is withdrawing from the preparations and will not attend the event, which will be held in Seville, Spain, from June 29 to July 3.
Schrier said, “The United States has worked throughout this process towards a concise outcome document that captures the shared ambitions for development finance. It does not impose new requirements, create new structures, and infringe on the sovereignty of member states. We regret the missed opportunity.”
After the US withdrew, UN member states adopted a draft declaration reaffirming their commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Among other things, these goals are to eradicate extreme poverty, tackle hunger and promote gender equality by 2030. The United States has refused to support these goals.
“We must no longer re-affirm the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals,” Shrier said.
He added that his country “opposes the use of the word gender when discussing gender-based differences and we do not support gender-based preferences in any way.”
Many developing countries, burdened by debt, have long called for reforms of the international financial sector to facilitate their access to finance and development.
The draft declaration supports this by saying that global financial systems “must continuously adapt to changing global realities.”
It also calls on multilateral development banks to consider tripling their annual lending capacity, a move criticized by the United States.
Source: AFP