After months of talks, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development kicks off today in a steamy Sevilla.
Negotiators will arrive with an agreement in hand, so rather than hash out the details, the next four days will be dedicated to figuring out how to implement the promises made.
The agreement — which was only made possible after the U.S. pulled out of the discussions, citing too many “red lines” — is a compromise. High-income countries recognized the debt burdens that many developing countries are facing and the need for reformed architecture, but several “disassociated” themselves from parts of the text on debt and climate, which means that they do not formally endorse or support it — but won’t block the vote.