United States to Boycott UN Development Finance Conference

Md. Al Masum Khan: The United States has announced it will not participate in a key United Nations development financing summit, citing its administration’s broader policy of significant cuts to foreign aid under President Donald Trump.

This decision was confirmed on Tuesday by U.S. officials.

Jonathan Shrier, a U.S. representative involved in preparations for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, said the country is withdrawing from the preparatory process and will not attend the summit scheduled to take place in Seville, Spain, from June 29 to July 3.

Shrier stated that the United States had been working toward a concise outcome document that could reflect a shared ambition to finance development without imposing new obligations, creating new frameworks, or infringing on national sovereignty.

We regret missing this opportunity, Shrier said.

Following the U.S. withdrawal, the remaining UN member states reaffirmed their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and adopted a draft declaration aimed at achieving them.

The SDGs include, among other goals, eradicating extreme poverty, ending hunger, and promoting gender equality by 2030.

However, the United States refused to endorse these goals. We do not reaffirm the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or the Sustainable Development Goals, Shrier emphasized.

He further noted that the U.S. opposes the use of the term “gender” in discussions of gender-based disparities and does not support any recognition of gender-based preferences in any context.

Many debt-burdened developing nations have long called for reforms in the international financial system to facilitate easier access to financing and development support.

The draft declaration supports these appeals, emphasizing that global financial institutions must continuously adapt to evolving global realities.

It also calls on multilateral development banks to consider tripling their annual lending capacity a proposal that has faced criticism from the United States.