In times of global unrest and severe cuts to foreign aid, spending on help is crucial to fostering peace, the chief of the UN Development Programme stated on Sunday.
Haoliang Xu emphasized that assistance, trade, and defense investment were “not a zero-sum game” in an interview conducted on the eve of a four-day United Nations summit in Spain that tries to gather new momentum for the beleaguered development sector.
Xu stated that “international development cooperation is critical to build the foundations of peace,” pointing out that most of the world’s impoverished reside in nations that are still at war.
As conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East upend global security, wealthy donors—most notably the United States and European nations—have increased defense spending while reducing aid budgets.
