Innovative financing at the centre of discussions with French President ahead of G20 meeting in Cannes
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and La Francophonie Secretary-General Abdou Diouf met French President Nicolas Sarkozy on 5 October 2011, ahead of the G20 meeting that the French leader will chair.
Ahead of the G20 Summit in Cannes next month (3-4 November 2011), the Secretaries-General called for the G20 to pay attention to the need to set up the kind of additional innovative financing which is vital for developing countries.
The two Secretaries-General recounted to President Sarkozy the problems which weigh on poor and vulnerable countries and stressed that tackling them required means other than those provided by traditional development infrastructure. Whereas traditional financing should continue, adapting to climate change, food security, building up infrastructure, health and education also required additional resources estimated in hundreds of billions of dollars.
They said the G20 was in a position to exercise its influence by encouraging states to commit themselves to innovative methods of financing appropriate to these challenges.
Mr Sharma expressed his appreciation at the continuation of the relationship established in 2010 between the presidency of the G20 and the two organisations and the invitation from President Sarkozy. The Commonwealth Secretary-General said leaders of the G20 should consider themselves as the guarantors of the development of the majority of the countries not present at G20 summits.
“90 per cent of world GDP is represented at the table of the G20 but 90 per cent of the states of the planet are still not invited,” he added.
For his part, Abdou Diouf said: “La Francophonie and the Commonwealth are ready to support the initiatives of the G20 and to play their part in the establishment and deployment of innovative financing and in being the architects of a new structure for aid.”
It is essential that the resources collected through different means and methods of innovative financing go as a priority and in their majority to development,” the two Secretaries-General added.
The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) [International Organisation of the French speaking World] is made up of 56 states and governments and 14 observers. The Commonwealth has 54 member countries. 11 states are members of both organisations: Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, St Lucia, Seychelles and Vanuatu. For more information on La Francophonie: www.francophonie.org
