Brazil wants money from the G20 to combat hunger in countries – 02/21/2024 – Market

Brazil proposed to G20 members to discuss sources of financing so that poorer countries can implement policies to combat hunger and eradicate poverty.

Technical negotiations formally began this Wednesday (21), with the first meeting of the G20 task force to implement a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.

The agenda is one of the main bets of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) during the period in which Brazil will hold the presidency of the group, which brings together the 19 largest economies in the world, in addition to the European Union and, starting this year , the African Union.

The Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger, Wellington Dias, said that the effort will involve not only the group’s countries, but others that are interested in joining the alliance. In the first meeting, according to him, representatives from 54 delegations participated.

“We want to avoid duplication of efforts and position the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty as a mechanism that will provide the necessary political momentum to mobilize existing funds and mechanisms and better organize them around two principles. First, a focus on poorest and most vulnerable. Two, the consistent implementation of national policies”, he stated.

In this first cycle of technical meetings, which will last until Friday (23), four reports produced by international organizations with successful experiences in combating hunger and reducing poverty in different countries will be presented.

According to the minister, income transfer and school feeding policies should play a relevant role in defining the action strategy.

Representatives from Brazil also presented a scope of what they believe the global alliance should be, what it intends to achieve and how each country can collaborate. The text is not yet public because it will be discussed with delegations and may undergo adjustments, but it revolves around three pillars: technical, financial and institutional.

The technical pillar is what will bring together policy recommendations, respecting the particularities of the countries. The financing pillar is what will enable the adoption of the necessary measures to achieve the alliance’s objectives. The institutional pillar is the countries’ own commitment.

Dias stated that one of the principles defended by Brazil in the task force is that advanced economies make resources available for poorer countries to implement policies to combat hunger and poverty.

There are no defined values ​​or goals yet, but, during the negotiations, each country that joins the alliance will be able to indicate the efforts it is willing to pursue, both in terms of policies and in terms of financial resources.

One of the possibilities is that a given country is willing to directly support another that is in a less favorable situation. But help can also be more comprehensive.

“It is each country’s plan that generates consolidation with an annualized target. What the alliance innovates is to integrate all areas for efficiency and monitoring. The same thing in relation to poverty. We will have an annual target with the objective of achieving results until 2030”, said the minister.

He recalled that, in 2015, member countries of the UN (United Nations) agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which foresee, among other goals, ending hunger and eradicating poverty by 2030.

“When [o ODS] was launched, we had around 600 million people on the hunger map, and it [o número] grew,” he said. “About 735 million people in the world in 2022 were going hungry, on a planet that largely produces the food necessary to sustain everyone.”

The next meeting of the G20 task force will take place in March, in Brasília, and will debate a first version of the final text creating the global alliance. The writing must be finalized at a technical level at the May meeting, which will take place in Teresina (PI).

The idea is that the text of the alliance will be ratified by the G20 assembly of ministers, in July, and then at the summit of heads of state, in November.