A hundred countries will be represented for two days, at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron, to try to lay the foundations for a new financial system capable of better arming fragile states in the face of climate change.
Mohammed ben Salmane, Lula, Ursula von der Leyen, Greta Thunberg… Very many heads of state and government, major international organisations, NGOs, climate and finance experts and activists are present in Paris on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 June. With one objective: to try to lay the foundations of a new global financial system, and to better arm fragile States as a priority against climate change and poverty.
>> LIVE. Follow the summit for a new financial pact organized in Paris
Round tables to define “a roadmap”
This international summit, at the initiative of Emmanuel Macron, takes place Thursday and Friday in Paris, mainly at the Palais Brongniart, Place de la Bourse but also at the Paris headquarters of the OECD and Unesco. It must allow “build a new consensus for a more united international financial system”according to the organizers.
The meeting will begin on Thursday with an opening ceremony chaired by the President of the Republic. It will then revolve throughout the day around six major round tables between heads of state and major decision-makers as well as around fifty thematic events. (in PDF). It will end with a working dinner for Heads of State and Government.
The second day, Friday, will open with a series of speeches (THE President of COP28, the head of the European Central Bank, the Secretary General of the OECD…) and must end with the “presentation of the conclusions of the round tables”. An adviser to the President of the Republic, interviewed by AFP, explains that the summit will lead to a “roadmap” but recognizes that France “does not have the capacity to decide”.
“This summit finally puts the question of financing at the heart of the debates, whereas it is a subject rather treated on the margins during the meetings of the G20 or the G7”, note from franceinfo Friederike Roder, vice-president of the international NGO Global Citizen. Laurence Tubiana, president of the European Climate Foundation and architect of the 2015 Paris agreement, explains for her part that “vsDiscussions can speed things up” around funding issues.
A list of prominent guests and speakers
The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, face of the countries of the South in the fight against global warming, will open the summit alongside the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. Visiting France for a week, thehe Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed ben Salmane, will also be present, like the Brazilian President, Lula, the American Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, or the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will also be there and will participate in a round table, as will the new President of the World Bank and the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The presence of Sultan al-Jaber, president of the next COP28 in Dubai, is also expected and scrutinized as the future summit in the United Arab Emirates (from November 30 to December 12, 2023) is already controversial.
More than 120 NGOs (including Action Against Hunger, Care France or Climate Action Network) will also be represented while many experts on climate and poverty issues will speak. Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is also due to speak on the sidelines of the summit.
“Advancing on concrete measures” to reform the global financial system
The summit for a new global financial pact aims to rethink and reform the global financial system, a major and colossal challenge, in order to to better arm fragile states in the face of climate change, poverty and major crises. “Now, the battle against poverty, the decarbonization of our economy and the fight for biodiversity are very much linked together”, Emmanuel Macron said at the end of April, in reference to this summit, the idea of which germinated at the time of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, in November 2022.
A wide range of subjects will be discussed during these two days: institutional reforms, taxation, debt restructuring of poor countries, role of the private sector… Thirteen heads of state and government as well as political leaders, including Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden, pledged in a column published in The world To “move forward on concrete measures” for a “just and united ecological transition”.
This summit at the initiative of Emmanuel Macron is however greeted with suspicion by certain NGOs. Attac denounces for example “a greenwashing summit, a communication operation and an illegitimate summit”.