The Brazilian presidency of the G20 had already achieved, until this Monday morning (11), the accession of 31 countries to the Global Alliance Against Hunger. Another 27 have already submitted documents, currently in the review process, and another 50 countries have expressed interest in signing the commitment, reported the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea).
Upon joining, countries not only commit to the alliance, but also say how they will contribute to its objectives.
“Thirty-one countries have already completed this process, they have already submitted it, it has already been approved. And 27 countries have already submitted these documents, which are under review by the Brazilian presidency, and will be returned with comments or ratified, endorsed immediately”, explained Fabio Veras, director of International Studies at Ipea, in an interview during the T20 conference, a group of representatives of “think tanks” from the G20 countries, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ).
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“In addition to these 58, there are another 50 who have already expressed interest, but have not yet submitted. So more than 100 countries are in some way talking to the alliance to be part of it.”
The Global Alliance Against Hunger was one of the main banners defended by the Brazilian presidency of the G20. According to Veras, among the countries with already approved membership, in addition to Brazil, are the United States, China, Egypt, Japan, Germany, Angola, South Africa, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Portugal, Rwanda, Spain and Ireland.
“They are very different countries, countries for which the issue of poverty and hunger internally may not be very relevant, but they understand that it is impossible to advance in a process of national and even international development without addressing these issues, because these are social issues gifts that also cause displacement of the population”, observed Luciana Servo, president of Ipea, one of the institutions that coordinate the T20 during Brazil’s presidency of the G20. “It shows that we have already made a lot of progress on an issue that began to be developed a few months ago. This also shows the strength of the leadership of Brazilian diplomacy, of the Brazilian government, and the perception you have about this leadership internationally”, he added.
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The Global Alliance against Hunger will be headquartered at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in Rome, Italy, but Ipea will house one of its offices around the world. The Brazilian institute will be dedicated to sharing knowledge on the subject, with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information between countries on how to design programs to combat hunger.
“This was in fact one of the great achievements of the Brazilian presidency of the G20”, assessed Servo.
According to her, Brazil managed to bring back the discussion on poverty, hunger and inequality, as a transversal line in the discussion groups, but “putting in an effective delivery”. “Because the G20 often ends up with recommendations, but without a strategy for implementing these recommendations”, highlighted Servo. “Furthermore, adherence is high.”
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The president of Ipea mentioned the international discussions necessary for the actions to be effectively implemented, considering the contexts of affected countries. She recalled that payments of external debts by more vulnerable countries prevent them from advancing in health, education and access to basic services policies.
“So when you are discussing international financial architecture and you are discussing sources of financing, of course it has to be in the multilateral context. Because the discussion, for example, of taxation, of the taxation of the super-rich, cannot be done by a single country, because otherwise you will have capital evasion from one country to another. This has to be done in the global context. This discussion of debt is also related to this discussion of international financial architecture and multilateralism, that is, global governance”, summarized Servo.
