World Leaders Gather in Paris for Global Debt, Climate Reform

• Macron says global lending system must adapt to fight climate change at Paris summit
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif representing Pakistan in the Summit.

Paris : French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday inaugurated the Summit “New Global Financial Pact” attended by foreign leaders in Paris.

The summit is focusing on how to help the world’s poorest countries in dealing with increasingly catastrophic events linked to climate change, without being saddled with huge debts.

Inaugurating the Summit, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed on the need for collective efforts to meet global challenges like climate change and alleviation of poverty.

Macron said we have to correct global environment transition. He said we must also respect the sovereignty of each country.

The big focus is on reform of the decades-old Bretton Woods institutions: the World Bank and the IMF. One of the key attendees at the summit is Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Heads of more than fifty countries and representatives of the financial institutions are attending the Parish Summit 2023.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is representing Pakistan in the Summit.

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Ms. Sherry Rehman; Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq; Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms. Marriyum Aurangzeb; Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Ms. Aisha Ghaus Pasha; Special Assistant to PM, Mr. Tariq Fatemi and Pakistan’s Ambassador to France, Mr. Asim Iftikhar Ahmad attended the meeting.

France says the two-day summit, which begins on Thursday and will bring together some 50 heads of state and government, was more of a platform for ideas sharing ahead of a cluster of major economic and climate meetings in the coming months.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is also in Paris for this occasion. He said “the global financial system, which manages around 300 trillion dollars in financial assets, is simply not fit for purpose.” He also stated, “Today’s poly-crises are compounding shocks on developing countries – in large part because of an unfair global financial system that is short-term, crisis-prone, and that further exacerbates inequalities”

The aim of this Summit is to concurrently tackle the challenges of climate change, biodiversity protection, and the fight against inequality in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Paris Summit is co-organized by France and India, with the latter holding the presidency of the G20 this year.

Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany; Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; and Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados are also attending the summit.

The Paris Summit aims to align various agendas (climate, development, debt) and propose innovative solutions to these challenges, according to organizers.