The following text is a transcript of a video statement by Bodo Ellmers providing an overview of his third day at the FfD4 conference. You can find the video here.

Day three of the #FfD4 conference in Sevilla centred on two critical and politically charged issues: Trade and debt.

In the wake of renewed tariff disputes, trade featured prominently on the agenda. But as Bodo Ellmers from Global Policy Forum Europe noted, the conference offered no real solutions — only a general reaffirmation of the multilateral trading system, which is not working so well at the moment.

The conversation on debt took a more constructive turn. The Compromiso de Sevilla includes a commitment to set up a UN-led working group on responsible lending and borrowing, in cooperation with the IMF and World Bank, a step toward better debt crisis prevention.

Importantly, the conference also launched an intergovernmental process to develop recommendations on improving the global debt architecture. While this marks progress, several member states called for more ambitious action, including a UN convention on sovereign debt to ensure debt restructurings can become faster, fairer and more sustainable.