Economic issues

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the first meeting of the Governing Council of the Borrowers’ Platform, in Bangkok today:

With artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovations changing the global digital landscape at breakneck speed, their promise must not leave developing countries behind, senior United Nations officials told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it took up information and communications technologies (ICTs) as well as migration.

Rising debt servicing costs combined with drastically falling official development assistance (ODA) and illicit financial flows continue to hinder progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), speakers warned today as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up macroeconomic policy questions.

Despite gains in least developed countries in education, health and electricity access, the situation remains “sobering” amid persistent poverty and reversals in funding, speakers warned the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it took up reports on the issue.

With the international financial system still an impediment to driving forward action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and adaptation to the climate crisis, speakers stressed the need to reform its accessibility and architecture, while still others warned that conflict also reverses development, as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) continued its general debate today.

With an annual Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) financing gap estimated at more than $4 trillion, global growth projected to expand by only 2.6 per cent in 2026 and over 800 million people still living in poverty, speakers today called for efforts to “double down” on translating global aspirations into tangible outcomes as the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) opened its general debate.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) elected Suela Janina (Albania) Chair on 2 June.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) opened its eighty-first session today, approving a programme of work covering international trade and development, international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows, poverty eradication and information and communications technology (ICT) for sustainable development.

In Rwanda, the UN has trained nearly 200 community health officers on infection and prevention and control, early detection and risk communication to help the Government prepare for a potential Ebola outbreak. Rwanda is at high risk due to its proximity to heavily impacted areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The General Assembly today resumed consideration of the United States’ decades-long economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba, adopting an urgent proposal by Havana to re-open debate amid the “unprecedented actions of an extreme extraterritorial nature” being undertaken against the island nation by Washington, D.C.