Reuniões de Chanceleres e de Ministros de Desenvolvimento do G20 – Matera, Itália, 29 de junho de 2021

O Ministro das Relações Exteriores, Embaixador Carlos França, participou, no dia 29/6, de três reuniões ministeriais do G20 que trataram de temas afetos ao multilateralismo e à cooperação internacional, com vistas à promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável, no atual contexto de recuperação econômica. As reuniões tiveram lugar em Matera, sob presidência da Itália, em formato híbrido (presencial e virtual).

Os Chanceleres dos países do G20 debateram o multilateralismo e a reforma da governança global. O Ministro Carlos França salientou a necessidade de reformar os sistemas internacionais para melhor responder à crise atual e para que estejam preparados para enfrentar, com maior eficiência e transparência, desafios futuros, inclusive em saúde e comércio internacional.

Juntamente com Ministros de Desenvolvimento de alguns países, os Chanceleres mantiveram discussões sobre a segurança alimentar no contexto da pandemia da COVID-19 e adotaram a Declaração de Matera sobre Segurança Alimentar, Nutrição e Sistemas Alimentares. Frisaram a importância do livre fluxo do comércio internacional de alimentos, dos sistemas de proteção social e da adaptação climática para fortalecer a segurança alimentar global.

Ainda no dia 29, os  Ministros do G20 debateram o financiamento ao desenvolvimento sustentável e a implementação dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS), com foco nas cidades, especialmente as de tamanho intermediário. Adotaram declaração ministerial que: i.  promove a emissão de títulos verdes, sociais e de sustentabilidade para financiar a implementação dos ODS; ii. apoia mecanismo para mobilização de recursos em linha com os ODS; e iii. lança plataforma para compartilhamento de experiências e cooperação entre cidades.

Os trabalhos do G20 culminarão na realização da Cúpula de Líderes do G20, em Roma, nos dias 30 e 31 de outubro de 2021.

Os textos das declarações ministeriais adotadas são transcritos a seguir.

Matera Declaration on Food Security, Nutrition and Food Systems

A call to action in the time of the COVID – 19 pandemic and beyond 

1.        We, the G20 Foreign Affairs and Development Ministers, UN agencies and other partners convened here in Matera to contribute to strengthening international efforts to contain the effects of the pandemic on lives and livelihoods and to build forward better. We express deep concern for the state of food insecurity across the world. The number of people affected by hunger globally has been on the rise since 2014. The world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and end malnutrition in all its forms as aimed for in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. With current trends, the number of people affected by hunger would exceed 840 million by 2030. These figures do not take into account the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic that is likely to add more than 100 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world, as people lost their jobs and income, with consequences on their food security. This exacerbated the multiple crises and structural obstacles especially in developing and least developed countries with worsening effects on all people, in particular on women everywhere.

2.        We recognize that poverty alleviation, food security and sustainable food systems, are key to ending hunger, encouraging social cohesion and community development, reducing socio-economic inequalities both between and within countries, developing human capital, advancing gender equality and empowerment of youth, and promoting overall inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. Committed to contributing to the Decade of Action for the SDGs, we agree to deliver on food security priorities by enhancing efforts in ensuring safe and adequate nutrition for all, ending all forms of malnutrition, preserving agrobiodiversity, as well as relying on science, innovation, advanced business practices and responsible behavior complementing traditional knowledge, local food culture and best practices in order to achieve SDG 2 targets. Advancing these goals requires collective and coordinated leadership and action at the global level and a people-centered approach. The G20 is well positioned to provide such leadership, while promoting an inclusive approach with all stakeholders, private and public, and pursuing ambitious yet concrete and actionable programs. New and innovative policies and responsible investments in agriculture, territorial development and sustainable and resilient food, soil, and water management systems, as well as acting ahead of shocks to mitigate their impact, including in conflict situations, are needed to increase resilience and prevent future crises.

3.        We therefore call all relevant actors in our countries and beyond to implement the following urgently needed actions to recover from the crisis, including by stepping up North-South, South-South and Triangular cooperation, with the aim to reach a world free of hunger and malnutrition, achieving [progressively] realize the right to adequate food, alleviate poverty and promote just peaceful and inclusive societies. Building on previous G20 commitments related to food security and nutrition, we commit to work with developing countries to advance, through collective, multilateral and bilateral actions, the following priorities, in accordance with national policy priorities and objectives:

4.        Implementing effective actions for the empowerment of women and youth in the rural-urban continuum. While women and youth have been at the forefront of the response to the pandemic, the world has also seen a loss of gender equality, education and decent work opportunities for women and youth, especially in rural areas and vulnerable situations. We therefore emphasize the need for policies, technical assistance, capacity building and investments that create new decent work and agri-entrepreneurship opportunities for women and youth and support their empowerment as active participants and leaders at all levels of food systems and institutions.

5.        Enhancing social-protection measures and programs, with a focus on people living in vulnerable situations, of whom large shares depend on the agriculture and food sector for their livelihoods. This includes emergency food assistance and safety nets, cash and in-kind transfer programmes as appropriate, local procurement schemes and school feeding programmes as relevant, mother and child nutrition programmes, food banks, to the extent possible based on locally produced biodiverse food and local food culture, and other interventions focused on informal sector workers, with particular attention to effective action for gender equality, youth, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations, which builds agency and empowerment. In this context, we welcome relevant efforts and initiatives by all stakeholders working on social protection, including technical and financial resources mobilization, as well as the work of WFP, together with other partners, towards the development of a global coalition for school feeding

6.        Increasing catalytic investments for food security, nutrition, and sustainable food systems and territorial development, as part of the substantial COVID-19 emergency funding and longer-term national recovery plans and packages, in a manner consistent with WTO obligations and taking into account the voluntary Committee on World Food Security Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems. All relevant actors across the international financial architecture and financial ecosystem need to play a role, in line with respective mandates, in improving availability of and access to sustainable finance in the food and agriculture sector to effectively enable small scale and family farmers and fisherfolk, pastoralists, agro-enterprises, cooperatives and other operators within food value chains to invest more in sustainable food systems, particularly in developing and least developed countries. Public policies and resources such as procurement and public development banks’ funds can help to address market failures and provide greater risk tolerance than what other financial institutions can, thus also stimulating responsible private investment and blended finance to improve food security and nutrition and efficiency in food value chains, increase smallholders’ family farmers’  and fisher folks’ productivity, capacity, managerial capital accessibility to markets, incomes and resilience, support young entrepreneurs and decent work opportunities and conditions, as well as promote innovation in technologies and practices to promote sustainable food systems. In this regard, we welcome the establishment of a “Finance in Common” Working Group on Financing Sustainable Food Systems, led by IFAD, that gathers public development banks, and we recognize the critical role of the private sector to support public efforts to improve agri-food systems and emphasize the importance of accelerating digital transformation and innovation, with appropriate protection of intellectual property rights and data privacy consistent with national and international legal frameworks and the voluntary transfer of technologies on mutually agreed terms, in sustainable and resilient agriculture.

7.        Accelerating the adaptation of agriculture and food systems to climate change, as increased climate variability and extreme weather events impact agriculture output and are among the forces driving the rise in global hunger, while recognizing the importance of sustainable agriculture. This includes, without limiting to, policies fostering territorial and gender sensitive adaptation, promoting more integrated farming systems, climate sensitive, agro-ecological and other innovative approaches as appropriate, supporting biodiversity as a source of climate resilience, fast-tracking the implementation of the agriculture and food-systems related parts of adaptation plans, as well as promoting effective funding from climate finance to foster climate adaptation in the food and agriculture sector of developing countries in the light of different national circumstances. This also requires better understanding and managing of climate risks, leveraging the power of the private sector and of local national and international agriculture research organisations and knowledge institutes, as well as focusing on sustainable management and use of natural resources that are essential to food systems.

8.        Keeping international food trade open and strengthening global, regional and local diversified value chains for safe, fresh and nutritious food. It is crucial to maintain global food trade open, and to keep food markets functioning. We highlight the importance of open, transparent, predictable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system, consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, to enhance market predictability, and allow agri-food trade to flow so as to contribute food security and nutrition. International trade is crucial to ensure access to inputs, goods and services to produce safe, nutritious and affordable food. We will continue to guard against any unjustified restrictive and distortive measures that could lead to excessive food price volatility in international markets and threaten the food security and nutrition of large proportions of the world population, especially the most vulnerable living in environments of low food security. Policies, research and investments should also focus on: protecting the interests of small and marginal farmers especially in developing countries; improving inter-regional logistics and distributional systems along with better linkages between rural and urban areas; strengthening local food economies resilience to external shocks; improving handling, storage, processing and preservation to enhance value chain efficiency and resilience, reduce post-harvest losses, food loss and waste and ensure food safety; and increasing availability, accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods.

9.        Promoting a science-based holistic One Health approach, by integrating it into national policies and international action as part of our collaboration, so to improve public health outcomes with a multi-sectoral response to address food safety risks, risks from zoonoses, and other health risks at the human-animal-ecosystem interface, and to provide guidance on how to reduce these risks. In recognizing that the health of people and planet is inseparable, and in particular the various linkages between food systems and the health of humans, animals and the environment, and using a science and evidence based approach and identifying those factors that can be properly managed to optimize impact and manage risk, epidemics and other threats to food security can be mitigated. Such an approach supports interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration and strategies that contribute not only to preventing (zoonotic) disease and the emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) but also to sustainable development and global food security. In this context, we welcome the One Health High-Level Expert Panel, recently established by FAO, OIE, WHO and UNEP, which could provide guidance to design these strategies and assistance in implementing them.

10.      We commit to strengthen our collective efforts to implement this call to a global mobilization, in coordination with the G20 Ministers of Agriculture and existing initiatives and leveraging international processes such as the upcoming Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit, COP26, WTO 12th Ministerial Conference and UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, and UN Food System Summit that has the potential to improve the sustainability of food systems. We will explore a broad suite of existing mechanisms and funding channels to achieve the priorities of the Matera Declaration, including operational multilateral initiatives, such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, the G20 Rural Youth Employment Initiative, and the Global Network against Food Crisis, and international cooperation, technical assistance and donor development assistance programs. We encourage partners and stakeholders to collaborate with or join the Food Coalition launched by FAO whose goal is to build a global alliance to trigger coordinated action in response to COVID-19, with a focus on the thematic priorities identified in this Matera Declaration around food security, nutrition and food systems, and to mobilize political, financial, policy and technical support based on needs and demands of developing countries, with a focus on smallholder farmers, women and youth. As a light and flexible collaboration mechanism, the Food Coalition will should provide for its members leadership to raise awareness on food security, nutrition and sustainable food systems, and promote, on a voluntary basis, operational coordination of responses to country and regional needs and priorities: horizontally across thematic areas, and vertically from local to global, including among all relevant UN agencies and International Organisations; thus also facilitating innovative multi-actor and multi-country initiatives such as to implement the One Health Approach and the voluntary CFS Guidelines and policy recommendations as appropriate.

 G20 Development Ministers meeting

Matera, 29th June 2021

Communiqué

A global response to support COVID-19 recovery in developing countries and foster progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

1. We, G20 Ministers responsible for Development and International Cooperation, met under the Italian G20 Presidency for the first time to commit to and call for an ambitious, yet concrete, actionable and coordinated, global COVID-19 response to help developing countries overcome the current health, humanitarian and socio-economic crises while drawing efforts towards a better future for all. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement are our essential common references for this Communiqué as they provide the shared blueprint for shaping an inclusive, resilient and socially, economically and environmentally sustainable recovery. We reaffirm our commitment to a timely and ambitious implementation of the 2030 Agenda and of the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda of which the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) is the guardian. The G20 has provided a swift response to the crisis, including assistance towards developing countries, the G20 Support to COVID-19 Response and Recovery in Developing Countries, the significant financial package put forward by G20 countries, the 2021 Matera Declaration on Food Security, Nutrition and Food Systems, and the outcomes of the Global Health Summit in Rome in May 2021. We also recall the importance of addressing the immediate humanitarian consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic through the 2021 Global Humanitarian Overview and we welcome the G20 Ministerial Event on Humanitarian Assistance in Brindisi co-organised by the Italian Presidency and the WFP. We will build upon this coherent and coordinated response in close collaboration with national governments.

2. Despite these efforts, we remain deeply concerned that the crisis has set back progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and has far-reaching impacts, including backsliding on education, in particular girls’ education, and gender equality gains, especially on population groups in vulnerable situations. One of the greatest challenges ahead for the international community is to lay the basis of a sustainable recovery that accelerates progress across all SDGs everywhere, ending poverty and malnutrition in all its forms, creating decent jobs, achieving universal health coverage, reducing inequalities and addressing the causes and consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss, combating corruption and illicit financial flows and developing effective, transparent and accountable institutions at all level. We are determined to support all developing countries and regions as they face the intertwined health, economic, social and environmental effects of the crisis, and recognizing the specific challenges in Africa, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. Overcoming the pandemic is a precondition for a stable and lasting global recovery. With new waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and a differing scale and pace of vaccination worldwide, the recovery is uneven across and within countries. In this regard, we reaffirm the role of extensive COVID-19 immunisation as a global public good and reiterate the need to scale up collaborative efforts to enhance timely, global and equitable access to safe, effective and affordable COVID-19 tools (vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and personal protective equipment), including through working with the ACT-A vaccine pillar (COVAX) supporting efforts to boost and diversify global vaccine-manufacturing capacity and strengthening health systems, as recognised by G20 Leaders at the Global Health Summit. We emphasise our support for global sharing of safe, effective, quality and affordable vaccine doses including working with the ACT-A vaccines pillar (COVAX), when domestic situations permit. We welcome the outcomes of the recent COVAX Advance Market Commitment Summit co-hosted by Japan and GAVI.

3.  To achieve these goals, we need to foster an enabling policy environment, strengthen multilateral cooperation and the mobilisation of all possible resources. Actions at global, regional and national levels should support national and sub-national efforts to overcome the crisis and achieve the SDGs. During the Italian G20 Presidency, we are focusing our collaborative efforts on enhancing mobilisation, use and alignment of financing for sustainable development and on strengthening the role of intermediary cities for achieving the SDGs at the local level. Our efforts aim at a strong recovery that is inclusive, resilient and socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, while promoting a One Health approach and the empowerment of women and youth.

Financing for Sustainable Development

4. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries are increasing financing needs while reducing available resources to implement crisis mitigation, recovery measures and the achievement of the SDGs. The G20 is well positioned to lead by example and support international efforts towards a more inclusive and sustainable recovery. Building on our Financing for Sustainable Development (FSD) Framework endorsed in 2020 under the Saudi Presidency, we are committed to promote enhanced mobilization, alignment and impact on the SDGs, of all sources of finance, including domestic resources and ODA in line with existing commitments, as well as South-South and Triangular co-operation initiatives, blended and private sector financing. The G20 has taken important steps to respond to immediate liquidity needs and tackle debt vulnerabilities in developing countries. These include: the final extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to the end of 2021, the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI, ongoing and upcoming negotiations for an ambitious replenishment of IDA-20, the future Africa Development Fund replenishment in 2022, and a call for a new general allocation of USD 650 billion of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) by the IMF and their possible channelling on a voluntary basis to the benefit of vulnerable countries. Complementing this work by the G20 Ministers of Finance, our contribution on FSD focuses on the alignment of all viable resources to the SDGs, and on three complementary areas to improve the use of national financing frameworks, financing instruments and available fiscal space.

5. Well-designed, transparent and country-led financing frameworks are key for the implementation of national and sub-national sustainable development strategies, to align public and private resources towards their objectives and to catalyse private investment in the SDGs, while advancing policy coherence for sustainable development. As highlighted in the AAAA, Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) can play a key role in supporting cohesive nationally owned sustainable development strategies. We welcome progress made by over 70 countries in developing INFFs to align finance to national priorities and the SDGs. We support the greater uptake and operationalisation of INFFs, in line with the principle of voluntary adoption, country ownership, alignment to national priorities and tailoring to local contexts, including by promoting policy dialogue and knowledge exchange, technical assistance and capacity building. We take note with appreciation of the UNDP stocktake report on INFFs and we will continue working with partner International Organisations and public and private stakeholders to help developing countries in their efforts on INFFs implementation, also considering, on a voluntary basis, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) as an inclusive framework that will not dilute commitments already made.

6. Sustainability-linked financial instruments, encompassing bonds, funds and other investment vehicles aimed at advancing sustainable development objectives, including referring to environmental protection, gender equality, social development and sustainable infrastructure and cities, can play an important role in mobilizing finance to reduce the SDG financing gaps in developing countries and become possible long-term financing instruments as part of national and local strategies. We will continue working with relevant stakeholders in all countries to identify and address major constraints hindering the uptake of such instruments and exploring concrete ways to enhance their development impact. We recognise the importance of standards of measuring impact and transparency of investments. In particular, we will look at approaches to tailor bond issuances to local contexts, facilitate raising capital through such financial instruments in developed country capital markets, ensuring country ownership and supporting the development of local capital markets whilst reinforcing countries’ debt management capacities, also via dedicated technical assistance programs and knowledge exchange. We encourage issuers and regulators in all countries to promote transparency and the use of best practices to avoid SDG washing, and recommend that, when used, taxonomies take into account national and regional contexts as well as international guidelines as appropriate. We take note with appreciation of the OECD Stocktake Report on Scaling-up Green, Social, and Sustainability Bond Issuances in Developing Countries. We encourage relevant international organisations, stakeholders and financial market players to support our efforts to promote sustainability-linked financial instruments in developing countries.

7. We continue working towards a G20 common vision and voluntary reporting principles for SDG alignment of the use of available fiscal space, to be applied on a voluntary and case-by-case basis, including by strengthening cooperation with G20 Finance Track. We look forward to working with partner countries and international organisations, including to explore the potential of this vision and to direct financing towards the achievement of SDGs, while avoiding any new ‘SDG compliance’ conditionality. This common vision will be developed in coordination with the G20 Finance Ministers’ track, and aims to be applied on a voluntary basis and taking into account all available resources. The vision may include, inter alia, the importance of: COVID-19 recovery packages to be linked to the longer-term 2030 Agenda and used not only for emergency measures; and all public expenditure making substantial contribution to achieve the SDGs and doing no harm to the others. The possible voluntary reporting of such SDG allocations in interested partner countries, ideally against the SDG target level, should be in connection to the national sustainable development strategy and possibly INFF as its operational instrument, led by national governments, and involve all relevant stakeholders as appropriate, as well as accompanied by policy dialogue and by capacity development for the relevant local actors.

8. National and international financing should be tailored to national priorities and advance sustainable development, noting the importance of transparency and mutual accountability in accordance with AAAA, consistently with the integrated and indivisible nature of the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. During the Italian G20 Presidency we are focusing our attention on the importance of gender equality, youth empowerment via quality education and decent jobs, and social protection systems as key crosscutting and catalytic areas to eradicate poverty, reduce vulnerabilities and inequalities. We welcome the increased attention paid at national, regional and global levels to strengthening and broadening the financing mechanisms for comprehensive, resilient and sustainable social protection systems, and related capacity building. We highlight the importance of fostering the complementarity of external support and domestic resources in the financing of sustainable social protection systems. INFFs can play a key role in the alignment of all sources of finance, including with a view to foster policy coherence and the efficiency of social spending. We take note with appreciation of the scoping note on financing social protection systems by ILO/OECD/WBG and look forward to working with G20 employment, education and finance tracks to identify possible G20 actions to support the mobilisation of domestic and international financing in these areas.

Territorial Development and SDGs Localisation

9. Local authorities are crucial actors to mitigate the complex and multifaceted impacts of the pandemic and build forward better. Building on the achievements of past G20 Presidencies 1, we are committed to work with all levels of government, as appropriate to country contexts, to support local authorities to lead the efforts towards an inclusive, resilient and sustainable recovery and address the causes and consequences of climate change. We underscore the relevance of adopting territorial approaches for the design and implementation of multi-level governance systems, dialogues and policies. Such approaches should take into account the interconnection between human and animal health and the environment, in line with the One Health approach and subject to national contexts and circumstances.

10. We recognize that intermediary cities offer a significant, but often unexplored and underutilised, potential for achieving the SDGs at the local level and provide an enabling environment for the empowerment of women, youth, and people living in vulnerable situations, including those in remote, rural areas and informal settlements. Intermediary cities can play a determinant role in articulating a rural-urban continuum, addressing problems, finding solutions, and implementing actions, in concert with national governments, to advance a development model that is more inclusive, resilient and sustainable, and leaves no one and no place behind. They deserve greater attention. We underscore that enhancing rural-urban linkages and connectivity, including through the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment and the G20 Guidelines on Quality for Regional Connectivity, contributes to the localisation of the SDGs, fostering in particular local employment, responsible consumption and production, local environmental protection, food security and sustainable supply chains, and should be adequately prioritized in development strategies.

11. We intend to foster innovation and knowledge co-creation with all stakeholders, especially local actors, to advance the localisation of the SDGs. We aim to promote multi-level policy dialogues and partnerships and mobilise support and capacity building to scale-up actions that address the knowledge, policy, financing, and capacity gaps, including in managerial capital, limiting the potential of intermediary cities. Addressing the gaps that affect intermediary cities and their surrounding territories requires greater and coordinated efforts. Therefore, we will continue working towards establishing a G20 Platform on SDG Localisation and Intermediary Cities, an open and inclusive space for policy dialogue to support local, national and international actions to address these gaps and optimise the development potential of intermediary cities and supporting efforts for SDGs localisation. This collaborative G20 Platform will build upon the existing knowledge base and networks to develop and broker analysis and knowledge products on intermediary cities and SDG localisation. A key area of its engagement will be the promotion of city-to-city partnerships for SDG localisation and the preparation of a Compendium of good practices and inspiring examples on such partnerships. We invite the governing bodies of OECD and UN-Habitat to consider providing technical support to the G20 Platform, in line with their respective mandates, budgets and work programmes, and in close coordination with the G20 DWG and relevant international organisations and partners.

G20 engagement and outreach towards the achievement of the SDGs

12. We reaffirm our commitment to promote and accelerate sustainable development globally, in partnership with all countries, the private sector, civil society, and international and regional organisations. We thank the G20 engagement groups – B20, C20, L20, T20, U20, Y20, W20 – and developing country representatives for their inspiring inputs to the DWG. We emphasise the key role of the DWG in advancing the G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda, in coordination with other G20 work streams, and reiterate the DWG’s role as a coordinating body and policy resource for sustainable development across the G20. We welcome in particular the closer collaboration and alignment between the DWG and the Finance Track facilitated by the Italian Presidency and look forward to continuous engagement towards a possible common agenda for advancing G20 efforts on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moving forward, we acknowledge the importance of building on past G20 achievements and existing initiatives to ensure continuity and effectiveness of G20 actions to foster the recovery in developing countries and achieve the SDGs that have been severely set back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.