<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/18/g20-brazil-lula-hunger-alliance>
"The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has opened the G20 meeting
in Rio de Janeiro with the launch of an alliance to combat hunger, which he
described as the “ultimate symbol of our collective tragedy”.
Brazil holds the rotating presidency of the group and is hosting the meeting
this Monday and Tuesday, attended by all but two – Russia and Saudi Arabia – of
the 19 member countries.
In his speech, Lula recalled attending the first G20 meeting in the US in 2008:
“Sixteen years later, I regret to say that the world is worse,” he said.
In a litany of the world’s current troubles, the leftwing leader included the
highest number of armed conflicts since the second world war, the largest
recorded displacement of people, extreme weather phenomena, and deepening
social, racial and gender inequalities.
But Lula said the “scourge that shames humanity” was hunger and poverty, with
733 million undernourished people worldwide, according to figures from the UN’s
Food and Agriculture Organization.
“In a world that produces nearly 6bn tonnes of food every year, this is
unacceptable,” he said, addressing leaders including Joe Biden, China’s Xi
Jinping, the UK’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
“It is the task of those gathered around this table to address this shameful
scourge that dishonours humanity. For this reason, we have made the launch of a
Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty the central goal of Brazil’s G20
presidency,” said Lula.
Eighty-one countries have backed the plan, but initially it seemed that only 18
of the 19 G20 members had signed up. Argentina, whose far-right president,
Javier Milei, has previously described Lula as a communist, did not initially
back the plan but later came around after negotiations."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
