Fighting Hunger And Poverty Back In Focus As G20 Sherpas Meet Under Brazilian Presidency

After the G20 flagged off the Global South at its New Delhi Summit earlier this year, hunger and poverty eradication will be back on the global centre-stage at the 2024 G20 Summit in Brazil. “Brazil’s presidency offers something new: social issues, the fight against poverty and the resolution of the hunger problem,” Angola Sherpa Domingos Custódio informed other G20 sherpas.

The New Delhi G20 Summit’s highlight was the historic decision to make the African Union permanent member of the G20, just like the European Union, which has been a permanent member since the G20’s inception. Albert Muchanga, Sherpa of the union of countries on the African continent, said the African experience in combating inequality, hunger and poverty will contribute to strengthening the Brazilian proposal for a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.

This observation came during five days of intense discussions about the priorities of the Brazilian presidency for the group that brings together the world’s main economies marked the Sherpa and Finance Tracks’ first meetings at the G20. Between December 11 and 15, member country representatives and eight guest nations met in Brasília to begin discussing solutions towards reducing inequality; promoting sustainable development; and dealing with climate change.

With the African Union’s permanent membership ensured at the New Delhi G20 Summit, after India stood firm in giving a new thrust to the Global South, addressing the problems of developing economies has become crucial for ushering in a new world economic order. Getting the African Union on board was a significant step forward for the forthcoming G20 summits in Brazil and South Africa, especially for taking forward Global South initiatives.

This followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam (all the world is one family)” at the New Delhi G20 summit. Modi had elaborated on collective thinking and empowering fellow human beings – making the planet more inclusive as well as sustainable. He gave the example of how technology was leveraged to bring about a positive difference to the lives of Indian citizens.

More significant was the visit of G20 leaders to the iconic Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi – the beacon of peace, service, compassion and non-violence. As the leaders of the diverse nations converged, Mahatma Gandhi’s timeless ideals guided G20’s collective vision for a harmonious, inclusive and prosperous global future.

On the theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, US President Joe Biden stressed on creating a future that represented greater opportunity, dignity and prosperity for everyone, adding that together, the United States, India, Brazil and South Africa will reaffirm their shared commitment to the G-20 in delivering solutions for the shared world.

The Sherpas meeting, with India represented by Sherpa Amitabh Kant, has straightaway got on the job to deal with humanitarian issues which have become more pronounced after the Covid pandemic. Frequent floods and droughts in the face of global warming and ecological imbalance, too, needed to be addressed on a war-footing. The New Delhi summit had rightly laid emphasis on the issue of climate change. A plan of action had been chalked out in the New Delhi declaration.

The Millennium Development Goals, which is now followed by Sustainable Development Goals, had made efforts in the last two decades to bring about a visible change in hunger and poverty eradication but the progress has not been rapid enough. The progress has been uneven in least developed economies, particularly those of sub-Saharan Africa. The need to deal with hunger and poverty had become more urgent after Covid destroyed tens of thousands of families by pushing them to below poverty line levels – jobless and hit by health issues.

Highlighting the contributions of Indian Presidency to this important G20 process, V Srinivas, secretary to the Government of India, said that in the land of Gandhi and Buddha, India’s civilisational ethos to focus on what unites us and not what divides us enabled the global resolve to work for the betterment of humanity. The inclusion of African Union in the G20 is a significant step towards a more inclusive global dialogue. India as a developing power, coupled with G20 presidency, helped make both the G20 and G7 processes more inclusive.

Srinivas is of the view that the Indian Presidency was a people’s movement and hence set the tone to enable G20 work together to shape a new paradigm – human centric globalisation. Rightly, the Brazilian Presidency has started well to bring hunger and poverty to the top of the agenda of this global forum. With the United Nations losing its hold in tackling global issues, G20 taking the necessary initiative has assumed significance.

Also the mantle of next G20 Presidency falls on South Africa, which will facilitate in taking this agenda forward. With Indian Presidency imparting greater momentum to galvanize support of the international community to further the agenda of growth and jobs, more vigorous efforts would be made to work for the common good. Brazilian efforts to bring hunger and poverty to the centre-stage augurs well. (IPA Service)