Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Mobilising funds for green action
Oped, Niamh Collier-Smith and Patchara Anuntasilpa, Published on 17/07/2025
» As the world races to deliver on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the question of how to mobilise the trillions needed for climate action, resilience, and inclusive growth has never been more urgent. For Thailand, this is not an abstract challenge -- it is a call to action that is being answered with innovation, ambition, and transparency.
Time to invest more in women
Oped, María Fernanda Espinosa and Anita Bhatia, Published on 07/07/2025
» The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, which ended on Thursday, has taken place at a time of escalating debt crises, rising poverty, declining food security and proliferating climate-related damage. These crises are all exacerbated by deep reductions in official development assistance (ODA), and they all disproportionately affect women and girls, especially in developing countries.
Resetting development finance
Oped, Carlos Cuerpo and Joseph E Stiglitz, Published on 03/07/2025
» At the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development this week in Seville, delegates are calling for urgent action to fix a system that has stopped working. Prior to the third such gathering a decade ago, in Ethiopia, we had witnessed unprecedented advances towards reducing poverty, increasing school enrolment, and providing clean water worldwide. Today, however, progress is not only slowing but potentially stagnating -- or, worse, reversing.
A new economic order needs a moral compass
Oped, Adriana Abdenur, Published on 24/06/2025
» Even before US President Donald Trump launched his assault on the global economy, it was facing not only a structural crisis but a collapse in the values that once justified and guided international cooperation. The retraction of multilateralism reflects not just weakened institutions and geopolitical tensions but also a loss of shared principles for international cooperation and a shift toward unilateralism, transactional diplomacy, and zero-sum nationalism.
Can financing for development talks succeed?
Oped, Jayati Ghosh, Published on 17/06/2025
» It is easy to be pessimistic about multilateralism nowadays. Recent international gatherings have yielded only unfulfilled promises. At a time when US President Donald Trump is abandoning America's international commitments, rejecting multilateral initiatives, and sowing chaos and confusion in global trade, can the Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) at the end of this month go any better?
Getting sustainable debt right
News, Kevin P. Gallagher & José Antonio Ocampo & Kunal Sen, Published on 19/05/2025
» A slowing global economy, rising trade tensions, and increased risks of recession could mean a perfect storm for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) burdened by high sovereign debt. Faced with exorbitant borrowing costs and an increasingly jittery international environment, these countries' potential for economic growth and development will be severely curtailed.
Making the case for foreign aid
Oped, Nilima Gulrajani, Published on 07/03/2025
» Foreign aid is being slashed across the Global North, nowhere more so than in the United States. Within his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and froze foreign aid, calling it wasteful and fraudulent. The United Kingdom recently followed suit, trading off its international-aid budget for higher defence spending.
One fishy tale of becoming a Mister
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/03/2023
» I got into a tangle last week referring to the Italian immigrant restaurateur Caesar Cardini as Senor when of course it should have been Signore. Apologies to all. I should have known better than to start dabbling with foreign honourifics. I have enough problems dealing with Mr, Mrs and Ms.
S Korea must stay neutral in standoff
Oped, Azhar Azam, Published on 29/05/2021
» The Republic of Korea (ROK), more commonly known as South Korea, has become caught in the middle of US-China tensions. Seoul recently sought to steel its security alliance with Washington amid threats from Pyongyang, historically a Beijing ally, and rivalry with Tokyo as well as wanting to protect its high economic stakes in China.
An 'old man in a chair' pulling rabbits from his bag of 'truths'
News, Oliver Fennell, Published on 27/06/2020
» An old man in a chair sits, legs crossed, next to a dark-wood bookcase stocked with hardbacks. He speaks of "the truth" about coronavirus and repeats many of the conspiracy theories we've heard elsewhere, but he does so calmly, reading from prepared notes, peering over half-moon spectacles.