Foreign Desk Report
NEW YORK: An important United Nations forum called for addressing the debt burden threatening the economic collapse of coronavirus-hit developing countries, as UN leaders underlined the call by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for a global initiative for debt relief.
The Financing for Development (FfD) Forum of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which held an informal virtual high-level meeting, in which member states joined together in a consensus outcome document that called for coordinated and decisive global action to arrest the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild strengthened and resilient economies.
In doing so, the entire UN membership came together under the FfD and charted a programme of action to fight the pandemic, restore sustainable growth and put the global economy on a more sustainable path
Opening the online meeting, the ECOSOC President, Mona Juul of Norway, focused on the various proposals made to deal with the debt problem facing the developing countries, and called for concessional financing, especially for least developed nations.
“I welcome the call by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for a Global Initiative for Debt Relief to promote a comprehensive solution to the debt issue and financing for sustainable development”, she added.
The President of the General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, also highlighted the debt problem and said, “I welcome the Global Initiative for Debt Relief, called for by Pakistan, to help ensure crucial liquidity to many developing countries suffering from the heavy burden of debt”.
