STORY: UN Secretary-General calls for reform of international financial architecture
SHOOTING TIME: Oct. 21, 2024
DATELINE: Oct. 23, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:37
LOCATION: Addis Ababa
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the press briefing
2. SOUNDBITE (English): ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General

STORYLINE:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged for a reformed international financial architecture, highlighting the need to extend stronger financial support to Africa to address the continent's development challenges.
   
In a joint briefing with African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat on the outcome of the AU-UN annual conference Monday at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Guterres said Africa faces challenges that are deeply rooted in history and aggravated by climate change, conflict and debt burden.
   
The secretary-general said the current global institutions were built at a time when most of Africa was under colonial rule and many of those institutions need to be reformed to help Africa meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said the current international financial architecture often cannot give African countries the safety net they need, whether it is protection from strangling debt or from climate catastrophe they did not cause.

Despite its rich resources, Guterres stressed that Africa remains economically constrained and lacks access to adequate concessional finance, which hampers its ability to invest in sustainable development and climate adaptation.
  
SOUNDBITE (English): ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General
"The international financial architecture must be corrected to give more voice and power to developing countries in general, of course African countries in particular.
We just decided to create a common working group with the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission to do serious research, to allow, to contribute to the creation of an African strategy to bridge the digital divide and the artificial intelligence divide."
   
According to Guterres, it is to ensure that artificial intelligence serves as a vehicle for development, enabling African countries to "catch up" and accelerate their economic progress.
   
Highlighting the significant progress made in AU-UN cooperation, Faki praised the UN's commitment to bringing Africa to the forefront of global decision-making.
   
Faki, however, stressed that Africa still struggles economically, calling for continuous efforts to reform both the UN Security Council and global financial institutions.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Addis Ababa.
(XHTV)