Solidarity must drive EU action to address global human development challenges, ministers from the Party of European Socialists (PES) agreed today.
Human development – as recorded by the United Nations – declined for the second year in a row in 2022. This fall – the first back-to-back drop ever recorded by the UN – comes as the world’s poorest people continue to face multiple challenges.
Climate change, COVID-19, Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, and insufficient investment continue to negatively affect life for billions of people around the globe.
Ahead of the informal EU Foreign Affairs Council (Development) today and tomorrow, PES development ministers gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, for a strategic discussion on strengthening international development policy.
Francisco André, Chair of the PES meeting and Portugal’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, said:
“As socialists and democrats, we are focused on mobilising international solidarity to improve life for vulnerable people. Through aid and development policy, we want to invest in people and planet and address global challenges and vulnerabilities, such as climate change, pandemics and armed conflicts.
“Thanks to the hard work of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen and progressive governments, we are making progress. It will be important to be ambitious and to advance further towards a fair, free and sustainable world for all.”
The meeting exchanged on the EU Global Health Strategy presented at the end of 2022, the EUR 300 billion EU Global Gateway strategy to deliver critical infrastructure, development cooperation in the context of the reconstruction of Ukraine, and other issues on the development agenda.
