Alberto Fernández: “No recovery will be possible …

“No recovery will be possible if not everyone is included,” the president said at the Financing for Development Forum.

President Alberto Fernández this morning stressed the need “to deepen international cooperation with an emphasis on solidarity” to face the economic and social emergencies that the pandemic has exacerbated by participating in the Financing for Development Forum, which responds to the urgent need for liquidity to ensure the post-pandemic recovery in the world, given the vulnerability of sovereign debt.

The Forum, which depends on the United Nations, convened this morning a high-level conference with heads of state and government and with the authorities of international organizations to analyze the architecture and liquidity of international debt and development finance in the context of covid19.

By a recorded message, the president Fernández warned that “it is essential to explore a new multilateral framework for the restructuring of public debt at the global level” in a way that “re-creates the conditions for sustained growth”.

“The urgency appears to us without bordersIn the same way that its impact on production, employment and poverty does not recognize limits between states. We are facing a new global challenge, ”he said.

At the event, the Argentine President thanked United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and Prime Ministers of Canada Justin Trudeau and Jamaican Prime Ministers Andrew Holness for the initiative to convene this event “at the precise moment this story obliges us to act with determination. ”IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also attended the conference; World Bank President David Malpass; World Trade Organization Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Secretary-General of the OECD, Ángel Gurría; and the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, as well as the heads of government of Italy, Spain, Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Barbados, Egypt, Turkey, Kenya and Namibia; and the Ministers of Economy and Finance of France, Germany and China, between other.

“Financing for development is essential to guarantee the global recovery by facing the challenges posed by the emergency,” said the head of state, adding that in Latin America alone, the number of people living in the extreme poverty reaches 85 million.

“We must be shaken by this figure, as Pope Francis says,” he said. He explained that, among other needs, digital and communication infrastructure “will require a greater effort of attention for the reconversion of economies, as well as the adaptation of education so that everyone has equal access in our countries. “.

He underlined that “it is essential to explore a new multilateral framework for the restructuring and the reduction of the public debt at the global level, according to the criteria of justice and sustainability for the debtors and the creditors”, and postulated that “the global crisis that we are currently going through is presented to us as the unique opportunity to resolve it”. “Rebuilding our social and productive fabric and recreating the conditions for sustained growth must be the key to guarantee the payment of debts,” he stressed.

Fernández advocated the emergence of “leaders who promote a vision oriented towards the integral and sustainable development of each region”.

He appreciated the “first steps” that the leaders of the G20 have taken in this regard, as well as the IMF which has given “more space to unconventional monetary policies and fiscal stimuli, which are helping to fight effectively against the decline in the economy. ‘activity and the surge in economic growth.. unemployment and poverty. “” However, these measures are not enough: it is necessary to give greater participation to middle-income countries so that emerging economies can also benefit. benefit “, said the President and remarked:” No recovery will be possible otherwise everyone is included “.

He said that “agreeing on a global injection of liquidity could provide some of that expected relief. This is why we are supporting a new general allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs) which takes into account in particular all countries in vulnerable situations ”.

“This is the time to take decisive and concrete actions in a coordinated and collective manner. In this new era, we need the inequalities we see today to end once and for all ”