Recently, the Sevilla Forum on Debt was launched at the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16) in Geneva.

• The Sevilla Forum on Debt is a new global platform launched in October 2025 at the 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16) in Geneva. Led by Spain in cooperation with UNCTAD and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the forum aims to provide an inclusive, multilateral space for debtor and creditor countries, financial institutions, civil society, and experts to discuss and coordinate fair, transparent, and sustainable sovereign debt solutions.
• The forum builds on pledges made at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) held earlier in Sevilla.
• It aims to promote fairer lending practices, faster and equitable debt restructuring, and long-term reform of the global debt system, which is widely seen as outdated and fragmented.
• The initiative supports the Sevilla Commitment, a roadmap to make global finance fairer and more sustainable by lowering borrowing costs, ensuring timely debt restructuring, and increasing transparency and accountability.

 Key objectives of the Sevilla Forum on Debt include:

• Reforming global debt architecture with predictable and fair restructuring processes that balance debtor needs with creditor confidence.
• Promoting responsible borrowing and lending by encouraging transparency and accountability.
• Ensuring financial justice so that debt repayments do not undermine social spending, climate actions, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Supporting innovative financing mechanisms like debt-climate swaps linked to environmental outcomes.
• Providing a platform where developing countries, often historically excluded from debt governance, can amplify their voices and coordinate efforts.
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized that developing countries spend $1.4 trillion annually on debt service, with 3.4 billion people living in countries that pay more on debt servicing than on health or education. The forum seeks to prevent countries from choosing between servicing debt and serving their people.

Overall, the Sevilla Forum on Debt represents a significant step toward global financial justice by fostering dialogue and concrete actions to address the severe debt crisis affecting many developing economies, enabling them to pursue sustainable development without being overwhelmed by unsustainable debt burdens.

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