Malaysia joins Brazil’s global alliance to combat hunger, poverty

 

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivering his speech in the plenary session of the G20 summit, held at the Museum of Modern Art. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Malaysia has joined the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative led by Brazil’s G20 presidency to accelerate progress towards eradicating hunger and poverty while promoting sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia’s participation in the alliance reflects its commitment to the 2030 Agenda, ensuring that no one is left behind in tackling hunger and poverty, Bernama reported.

“The Malaysian government has made significant strides through the Madani economy framework to improve the well-being of the people,” he was quoted as saying in the first session of the “Fight Against Hunger and Poverty” at the G20 Summit in Rio De Janeiro on Monday.

“Our focus includes strengthening governance structures, ensuring fiscal sustainability, increasing women’s participation in the economy, advancing digital transformation, and committing to climate action.”

As Asean’s chair next year, Anwar said Malaysia would collaborate in regional efforts to boost resilience, reduce poverty, and improve governance.

“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.

Anwar also cited China’s success in eradicating poverty as a model from which to draw insights, tailored to the socioeconomic needs of individual nations.

The alliance, involving 82 countries and organisations like the African Union and European Union, aims to support 500 million people in low-income countries with income aid by 2030 and provide school meals to over 150 million children in need.

At the launch of the initiative, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called hunger “the biological expression of social injustice” and urged the G20 to take decisive action to end it.

“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,” he said.

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

This marks Malaysia’s first G20 Summit appearance since 2015 in Turkey, where it participated as Asean chair. - FMT