Guyana president calls on developed countries to honour assistance pact with small states

President of Guyana Irfaan Ali says developed countries must honour their pledge to allocate at least 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Income (GNI) to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme to assist small states.

He said this would provide much-needed aid to developing countries, especially at this time when the economic and social fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging their abilities to effectively mount relief and recovery efforts.

President Ali made the call on Monday, during his address to the virtual meeting of Heads of States and Governments on International Debt Architecture and Liquidity on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and beyond. The Governments of Canada and Jamaica spearheaded the initiative, with support from the United Nations (UN).

The president also appealed to developed countries and international lending institutions to increase funding to support small developing states to aid their response to natural and biological disasters. Those disasters, he said, exact massive tolls on their economies and infrastructure.