A high level delegation from Seychelles, headed by the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Minister Naadir Hassan attended the 2023 ECOSOC Financing for Development (FfD) Forum which was held from 17 to 20 April 2023 in the Trusteeship Council, at UN Headquarters, New York.
The 2023 FfD Forum provided a platform for inclusive, multi-stakeholder dialogue to address the current global challenges and advance policies for financing long-term sustainable development priorities, in line with its mandate laid out in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
Representing Seychelles at the Forum Minister Hassan addressed the General Debate and reiterated the call for greater consideration of small states’ vulnerability within the development partners lending framework.
Addressing the General debate, Minister Hassan stated;
“Many small island nations including Seychelles is grappling with the challenges of heavy dependence on a single sector such as tourism, which again depends on the natural and marine resources which are highly vulnerable to climate change. Despite being considered high income, the Seychelles doesn’t have the financial capacity to put in place the required initiatives and infrastructure given the scale of the investment required to adapt and mitigate the impact of climate change. Acknowledging the vulnerabilities will allow for the promotion of resilience and ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to address the most pressing challenges faced by our countries.”
In addition to the General debate the Minister attended the various sessions and was a panelist for the session on “Fostering debt sustainability by addressing gaps in the sovereign debt architecture” where he highlighted the gaps in the current sovereign debt architecture that prevent small island states from achieving debt sustainability.
The meeting took place amid a highly challenging environment in which global sustainable development prospects continue to diverge and the global macroeconomic outlook remains highly uncertain.