A two-day summit, attended by nearly 40 heads of state and finance ministers, can hardly be expected to yield an agreement on international financial reforms. The effectiveness of the Paris summit depends on what happens next. Paris allowed the airing of concerns and suggestions by developing countries present in the room. Spotlighting concerns of the developing world – the debt crises that confronts 52 countries, need for concessional finance by emerging economies, juxtaposition of development and climate needs – at the highest level was necessary, but these were not unknown. Nor were the solutions – focusing on private finance sources, tweaking on the edges of existing multilateral development banks, debt pauses for poor countries hit by disasters rather than debt cancellations.
The summit stressed that no country should be forced to choose between development and climate needs. Having begun a conversation in earnest, it is up to all countries now to ensure that talk translates into action. Major developing countries like India must step up, and G20 provides an opportunity to develop a plan to address financing green transition.
