UN chief urges aid surge in world of 'climate chaos, raging conflicts'

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UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday urged the international community to "rev up the engine of development" aid in "a world shaken by inequalities, climate chaos and raging conflicts".

Rich donors, led by the United States, have slashed or plan to scale down aid budgets as conflicts and economic turbulence transform their spending priorities.

The cuts risk undoing progress in health, education and humanitarian programmes in developing countries, many of which already struggle under heavy debt burdens.

Opening a UN aid conference in Spain, Guterres said delegates were gathered "to repair and rev up the engine of development to accelerate investment" faced with the "massive headwinds" buffeting the sector.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers his opening speech during the United Nations 4th International Conference on Financing and Development in Seville, on June 30, 2025. (AFP)

Those challenges included "a slowing economy, rising trade tensions, and decimated aid budgets, a world shaken by inequalities, climate chaos and raging conflicts", he said.

Two-thirds of the development goals set by the international community for 2030 were "lagging" and more than $4 trillion of annual investment would be needed to achieve them, Guterres said.

The crisis meant children going unvaccinated, girls dropping out of school and families suffering hunger, added Guterres, urging the world to "change course".

Dozens of world leaders were meeting in the southern city of Seville for the June 30-July 3 Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the biggest such talks in a decade.

The gathering is due to adopt a document reaffirming a commitment to eliminating poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality, reforming tax systems and international financial institutions.

But the United States, the world's key foreign aid donor, is snubbing the event.