RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva kicked off a global effort on Wednesday to end hunger and extreme poverty, aiming to make it a hallmark of Brazil’s G20 presidency as he seeks to restore the country’s soft power on the world stage.

Alongside foreign officials in Rio de Janeiro, where finance and development ministers from the world’s largest economies are meeting this week, Lula hailed the nascent Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.

“Nothing is as absurd and unacceptable in the 21st century as the persistence of hunger and poverty, when we have so much abundance and so many scientific and technological resources at our disposal,” Lula said.

“No issue is more current and more challenging for humanity. We cannot normalise such disparities — hunger is the most degrading of human deprivations, an attack on life, an assault on freedom.” Brazil will officially launch the initiative in November, when heads of state gather for the G20 Summit in the South American city.

In practice, the event on Wednesday paved the way for countries and institutions to join the proposal, which aims to pool knowledge, resources and partnerships to combat malnutrition. The Brazilian government estimates it could attract participation from more than 100 countries.

Before the announcement, World Bank President Ajay Banga declared his support for the initiative during a bilateral meeting with Lula, the presidential office said.

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) head Ilan Goldfajn said at the event that along with the African Development Bank, the IDB would support the alliance with loans against International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights monetary reserves (SDRs).

The IMF approved the channeling of SDRs to multilateral development banks to boost their lending capacity in May. Replicating the strategy adopted earlier this week for the G20 development ministerial meetings, the Brazilian G20 presidency released a chair statement stating some diplomatic members wanted to speak on conflicts impacting the global economy like Russia, Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.

The Brazilian G20 Presidency will conduct the discussion on these issues with diplomats in the coming months in preparation for the Rio de Janeiro Leaders Summit, said the statement.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2024