Professor Ulrich Volz speaks at High-Level Conference celebrating 60 years of UNCTAD
Professor Ulrich Volz, the Director of the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance, spoke at a Conference on “60 Years of UNCTAD: Charting a New Development Course in a Changing World” that took place in Bandung, Indonesia on 14 May 2024.
The event commemorated the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 60 years ago. The conference, which was jointly organised by UNCTAD and the Government of Indonesia, highlighted the importance of collective efforts of the international community in ensuring the benefit of the global economy for developing countries. UNCTAD is an intergovernmental organisation within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade and finance.
In his presentation at the High-Level Conference, Professor Volz underscored the critical role of finance in enabling just transitions.
He emphasised that high cost of capital in developing countries are holding back investments in low-carbon, climate resilient infrastructure. He also pointed to the fact that fifty to sixty developing countries are currently facing a serious debt crisis, calling for an ambitious debt relief initiative that would enable countries to invest in green and inclusive recoveries.
To scale up sustainable infrastructure investment, Professor Ulrich Volz called for a larger role of public development banks, including multilateral development banks and national and subnational development banks. He also proposed that multilateral development banks and development finance institutions from advanced economies provide targeted support for national and subnational development banks in developing countries to enable them to assume a larger role mobilising domestic savings and in financing just transitions.
In Bandung, Professor Volz also contributed to a one-day workshop on “Greening Industrial and Financial Policy for Economic Transformation” on 15 May 2024. The workshop discussed how industrial and financial policies can support the greening of economies and advance economic development.
Header image credit: Mathias Reding via Unsplash.
