MALAYSIA JOINS BRAZIL’S INITIATIVE ON HUNGER AND POVERTY ERADICATION 

From M. Saraswathi

RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil), Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia joins the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative by Brazil’s G20 Presidency to accelerate progress towards eradicating hunger and poverty while advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said by joining this Global Alliance, Malaysia reaffirms its commitment to achieving the 2030 Agenda in combating hunger and poverty - ensuring that no one is left behind.

“The Malaysian government has made significant strides through the MADANI Economy Framework to improve the well-being of the people.

“Our focus includes strengthening governance structures, ensuring fiscal sustainability, increasing women’s participation in the economy, advancing digital transformation and committing to climate action,” he said in the first session of the ‘Fight Against Hunger and Poverty’ at the G20 Summit here, Monday.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said that as Chair of ASEAN 2025, Malaysia stands ready to collaborate on capacity-building efforts, focusing on enhancing resilience, alleviating poverty and improving governance across the region.

“The fight against hunger and poverty directly impacts human development. Ultimately, a collaborative commitment to these goals will lead to a world where hunger and poverty are eradicated and all people can thrive,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the Global Alliance calls for strong political commitment and collaborative action to end these misguided policies if we are serious about effectively eliminating hunger and poverty.

“In this vein, China’s success story in eradicating poverty is well worth emulating, subject, of course, to the particular socioeconomic needs of the respective nations,” he said.

Malaysia, along with 16 other countries, including Chile, Qatar, Egypt, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, are guest countries of G20.

The last time Malaysia attended the G20 Summit was in 2015 in Turkiye as ASEAN chairman at the time.

The G20 consists of 19 countries and two unions, namely Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, United States, European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU).

Anwar is accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz.

The Alliance was born with 148 founding members, including 82 countries, the AU, the EU, 24 international organisations, nine international financial institutions and 31 philanthropic and non-governmental organisations. Its innovative goal is to accelerate global efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty.

Among the announcements and commitments are the goal of reaching 500 million people with income transfer programmes in low- and middle-low-income countries by 2030.

In addition, the Alliance aims to expand high-quality school meals to more than 150 million children in countries with endemic child poverty and hunger and, at the same time, raise billions in credit and donations through multilateral development banks to implement these and other programmes.

“Hunger, as the Brazilian scientist and geographer Josué de Castro said, is the biological expression of social evils.

“It is the product of political decisions, which perpetuate the exclusion of much of humanity,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said at the launch of the initiative.

The G20 represents 85 per cent of the US$110 trillion in the world’s GDP.

It also accounts for 75 per cent of the US$32 in trade in goods and services and two-thirds of the 8 billion inhabitants of the planet.

“It is up to those who are here around this table to take on the urgent task of ending this wound that shames humanity.

“Therefore, we put the launch of a Global Alliance against Hunger and Povertyas a central objective of the Brazilian presidency at the G20.

“This will be our greatest legacy. It’s not just about doing justice. This is an essential condition to build more prosperous societies and a world of peace,” the Brazilian president said.

-- BERNAMA