Conference elects Pedro Sánchez as president; approves rules, program and officers by acclamation

Delegates at the opening plenary of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville elected Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez Pérez‑Castejón, to serve as president of the conference by acclamation and approved a series of procedural items that set the organization of work for the week.

The temporary presiding officer announced there was general agreement to elect “his excellency Pedro Sánchez Pérez‑Castejón, president of the government of the Kingdom of Spain as president of the fourth international conference on financing for development.” The chair then invited Sánchez to the podium. Several organizational decisions followed without recorded objections: the provisional rules of procedure recommended by the Preparatory Committee were approved, the provisional program was adopted, and the conference accepted the proposed organization of work with one oral revision to begin consideration of the draft outcome document earlier in the program.

The plenary also elected vice presidents by acclamation drawn from regional group nominations. The states named in the opening session included Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Croatia, El Salvador, Germany, Guinea, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, State of Palestine and Suriname. The chair designated the permanent representative of South Africa to the United Nations (as rapporteur general) by acclamation.

The credentials committee membership was adjusted when two originally listed states indicated they could not participate; Canada and Trinidad and Tobago were appointed to replace the United States and Dominica on the committee, again by acclamation.

Each of the items above was advanced on the basis of “no objection” or by acclamation as recorded by the presiding officer; no roll‑call votes or dissent were recorded in the opening plenary.

Ending: The procedural approvals put the conference’s plenary and multi‑stakeholder round tables into effect and allowed delegates to proceed to the adoption of the draft outcome document and the general debate later in the day.