Leaders open Financing for Development conference in Seville; Spain offers 'House of the United Nations' in Madrid

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez opened the Financing for Development conference in Seville on the first day of the summit and announced that Spain will host a new “House of the United Nations” in Madrid and present a Seville plan to strengthen the multilateral system.

“1 of them is basically, the opening in Madrid, Spain, of the, house of the United Nations,” Sánchez said, describing the planned site as “a new headquarters situated in the capital of Spain, which will be home to various teams from UN agencies.” He said details of the Seville plan would be released on Tuesday.

United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres, attending the press conference, framed the summit as a moment to rebuild international cooperation and urged concrete finance reforms. “As we meet, the world is falling behind in its commitments to advance the sustainable development goals,” Guterres said, adding that achieving the goals “will take an investment of more than 4,000,000,000,000 US dollars a year.” He also warned that developing countries are burdened by rising debt service, which he said has reached about 1,400,000,000,000…