Policy Updates

On October 24, 2024, on the sidelines of the WB Group and the IMF Annual Meetings, Spain's Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Carlos Cuerpo announced an early financial commitment of EUR400 million (US$430 million) to the IDA, the WBs fund for LICs, for the period 2025-2028.

This early pledge announcement represents a 37% increase compared to the Spanish contribution to IDA’s previous replenishment cycle for the period from July 2022 to June 2025 and ubicates Spain’s overall contribution to the organization at EUR5 billion (US$5.4 billion). The announcement comes weeks ahead of the IDA21 replenishment meeting that will take place in December and represents a powerful signal for other donors to meet IDA’s call to action for increasing contributions by at least 20%.

Cuerpo took advantage of the announcement to underline Spain’s strong commitment to advance SDGs in vulnerable countries as well as to tackle poverty and inequities worldwide.

He urged other donor countries to increase funding to IDA but also to bend official, public loans, through the inclusion of contingency clauses, in order to free up resources in middle- and low-income partner countries.

He mentioned that the 4^th International Conference on Financing for Development is an opportunity for rethinking global financial architecture and advancing sustainable development.

On September 25, 2024, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed the 79^th UNGA plenary session to review Spain’s foreign priorities and to underline the need to strengthen peace, democracy, and sustainable development worldwide.

Sánchez announced that Spain will increase its funding contributions to the UN system by at least 25% during the period 2025-2027. He emphasized the importance of reinforcing multilateral institutions and development finance to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

He referenced the 4^th International Conference on Financing for Development that will be held in Seville, Spain in June, 2025 and mentioned the current reform process of the Spanish development cooperation system.

Sánchez underlined Africa as a priority region for Spain’s foreign action and took the opportunity to talk about infant mortality and gender equality.

On September 23rd, 2024, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made an address at the Summit of the Future during the 79^th UNGA, which gathered several world leaders from donor and partner countries and high-level representatives from multilateral organizations.

Sánchez advocated for increased and better international cooperation to reach 2030 SDGs. In turn, Sánchez underlined the need for strengthening multilateral institutions as well as MDBs. He also called for the implementation of a new global tax upon great fortunes.

Prior to the 79^th UNGA, Sánchez met with the UN Secretary General António Guterres and attended a breakfast organized by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz together with other social-democrat leaders such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Brazilian President Lula da Silva to discuss global governance, multilateralism, climate change, and AI.

On September 10, 2024, the European Commission’s HERA facilitated the delivery of nearly 100,000 mpox vaccine doses to the DRC, marking the first shipment of its kind to the country.

An additional 100,000 doses are expected soon, contributing to the total of 215,000 vaccines pledged to combat the mpox outbreak in Africa. Team Europe will donate a total of 566,500 mpox vaccine doses to affected African countries, with contributions from France, Germany, Spain, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg, Croatia, Austria, and Poland.

The EC also released EUR1 million (US$1 million) in humanitarian assistance to support care, prevention, epidemiological surveillance, risk communication and distribution of kits in the DRC.

On August 29, 2024, amidst a domestic political crisis due to mass migration to the Canary Islands, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez traveled to Western Africa to meet with heads of state from Mauritania, The Gambia, and Senegal to discuss sustainable development, security, and irregular migration.

Sánchez announced the launch of the new African Progress Alliance, a joint initiative between Spain and Senegal aimed at fostering private investments to support sustainable development and strengthen economic opportunities for the youth in Western Africa.

In addition, AECID approved the new Country Partnership Framework with Senegal in June 2024, to disburse up to EUR180 million (US$193 million) in ODA in the country between 2024-2028.

On July 24, 2024, the cabinet of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez approved the Master Plan for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity 2024-2027 to set strategic priorities for Spain’s development cooperation.

In coordination with the Spanish Law for Sustainable Development Cooperation and Global Solidarity, approved in February 2023, the new Master Plan includes the objective of increasing Spain’s ODA/GNI to 0.7% by 2030. The Master Plan sets different ODA growth estimates for the period between 2024 and 2030. In 2027, for the lowest scenario, Spain’s ODA/GNI would reach 0.40%, and for the highest scenario ODA/GNI would reach 0.55%.

Spain outlined focus on three different development areas:

• Social transition, including democratic governance, global health and health systems, food security and nutrition, quality education, gender equality and women empowerment, culture and development;
• Ecological transition, including climate adaptation and mitigation, clean energies, biodiversity, water, and sanitation; and
• Economic transition, including rural development, inclusive economic development, digitalization.

Geographically, priority regions for Spain’s development cooperation include SSA, in particular the Sahel regions and Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries, North Africa and Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

On June 20, 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron attended the Gavi Investment Opportunity and AVMA launch in Paris, France, and pledged to reallocate GBP49 million (US$58 million) to Gavi’s newly launched AVMA through reallocated COVID-19 funding already committed to Gavi.

Co-hosted by Gavi, the African Union, and France, the event saw Gavi lay out its investment case for 2026 and 2030 and call for US$9 billion in new donor funding.

The UK did not make an early pledge to Gavi’s new replenishment, unlike the US, France, Spain, and some philanthropic providers, which committed a total of US$2.4 billion. Gavi is set to engage in an intense period of fundraising with a view to hosting a final pledging event in 7 to 12 months.

Since the creation of Gavi, the UK has invested GBP5.5 billion (US$7 billion) in the organization, helping to vaccinate over a billion children and save millions of lives.

The UK did not provide an early pledge to Gavi's 2026-2030 replenishment.

On June 13, 2024, at the Global Leaders Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, the Spanish State Secretary for International Cooperation Eva Granados announced a special pledge of EUR1.5 million (US$1.6 million) to UNCTAD.

Spain’s development leadership participated in this high-level event, which commemorated the 60^th anniversary of UNCTAD, together with other development ministries and world leaders.

Granados underlined the importance of strengthening the global governance for sustainable development. She also made the case for the critical role of the private sector, trade and innovative financial sources to advance towards the 2030 Agenda.

The Spanish new pledge will be channeled to UNCTAD’s Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance.

On May 31, 2024, the Spanish Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Carlos Cuerpo announced that Spain will step up the impact of SDRs through the IMF and the World Bank Group, increasing its SDR allocations for the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust by US$1.5 billion.

The contribution is aimed at fostering climate policies in low- and middle-income partner countries. It marked an important signal in support to the Bretton Woods institutions.

Cuerpo encouraged other countries to support financial institutions and make additional pledges to Resilience and Sustainability Trust, as well as to the IDA's 21^st replenishment.

On May 20, 2024, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation José Manuel Albares presented a new development cooperation program, titled Masar Al’an (‘Masar Now’) at an official event held in Madrid.

The Spanish foreign ministry and AECID seek to strengthen sustainable development in the MENA region. It encompasses an initial budgetary envelope of EUR4 million (US$4 million) in 2024, aimed at strengthening socio-economic opportunities for youth and women, promoting gender equality, protecting biodiversity, and fostering climate change adaptation in sectors such as rural development and fisheries.

AECID will work in collaboration with UN agencies as well as EUI, including the Union for the Mediterranean and the European Institute for the Mediterranean.