By 
Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Claver Gatete, has called for a decisive shift from “rhetoric to results” in global development financing, urging the adoption of innovative financial instruments tailored to Africa’s development realities.
Speaking at a side event hosted by the five UN regional commissions during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain, Gatete warned that the existing global financial system continues to constrain Africa’s access to affordable capital.
“Innovative financing instruments are no longer optional. They are essential,” said Gatete.
He stated that: “The current system continues to limit Africa’s access to affordable finance, despite the continent’s investment potential and development needs.”
Gatete highlighted several ECA-led initiatives designed to close Africa’s financing gap while advancing sustainable economic transformation.
These included a debt-for-nature and industrialisation swap piloted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, linking debt relief to green value chains such as battery and electric vehicle production.
The sustainable debt coalition, a platform helping African countries access climate finance on better terms and scale up sustainable borrowing, and an African investment map, currently under development, aimed at de-risking investments and directing capital towards high-impact, bankable projects.
“These are not abstract ideas. They are tools being tested and implemented across the continent to align debt relief, climate action, and long-term investment,” Gatete said.
He also stressed the role of national-level platforms in aligning development priorities, improving inter-ministerial coordination, and increasing transparency to attract long-term private investment.
“Unlocking private finance requires more than good ideas. It requires trust, coherence, and credible institutions,” he added.
The event formed part of a broader campaign by the five UN regional commissions—ECA (Africa), ECE (Europe), ECLAC (Latin America and the Caribbean), ESCAP (Asia and the Pacific), and ESCWA (Western Asia)—to promote regional solutions to global development financing challenges.
Their joint policy brief, Road to Seville, outlines recommendations across five pillars: domestic resource mobilization, debt sustainability, global economic governance, international cooperation, and private sector financing.
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