Portugal at ECOSOC FfD Forum: Turning Sevilla Commitments into Action
Portugal participated actively in the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York (20-24 April 2026), reaffirming its commitment to the implementation of the Sevilla Commitment and to multilateral cooperation for sustainable development.
Represented by Ambassador Florbela Paraíba, President of the Portuguese Cooperation Institute – Camões, I.P., Portugal stressed that Sevilla marked not the end of a negotiation, but the beginning of a new phase of collective implementation. In a global context of high debt, tighter financing conditions, slower growth and geopolitical uncertainty, Portugal underlined the need to close the SDG financing gap, address debt vulnerabilities and advance reform of the international financial architecture.
Portugal’s participation focused on three main priorities. First, moving beyond traditional income-based metrics to better reflect the multidimensional nature of development. Portugal reaffirmed its support for the Go Beyond GDP agenda and its intention to support a pilot study, with the OECD and other partners, on complementary indicators to GDP that may inform Portuguese development cooperation.
Second, Portugal emphasized the need to advance the operationalization of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index. At a side-event on the first Vulnerability and Resilience Country Profile pilot in Saint Kitts and Nevis, Portugal highlighted the importance of moving from broad recognition of vulnerability to practical application. Building on its role, together with Antigua and Barbuda, in co-facilitating the General Assembly resolution that established the MVI, Portugal expressed its readiness to act as a bridge between the normative progress already achieved and practical next steps — a role it has since carried forward through the organization, with Antigua and Barbuda, UN DESA and OHRLLS, of a Retreat on the operationalization of the MVI.
Third, Portugal highlighted the importance of partnerships, data and evidence. Together with UNOSSC and the OECD, Portugal co-organized a side-event on triangular cooperation, underlining its value as a demand-driven modality that mobilizes not only financial resources, but also knowledge, expertise, technology and institutional capacity. Portugal also joined partners in launching a call to action to strengthen data, stories, evaluations and evidence on triangular cooperation, ahead of the 10th International Meeting on Triangular Cooperation in Lisbon.
Portugal also contributed to discussions on the global financing framework and disaster risk reduction financing, advocating timely and case-by-case debt solutions, stronger coherence between fiscal, monetary and development objectives, and a shift from reactive disaster financing to risk-informed investment, prevention and resilience.
Across its interventions, Portugal reaffirmed its commitment to a rules-based, inclusive and effective multilateral system, focused on implementation, impact and the needs of the most vulnerable.
