Speech by Brazil’s President Lula at the launch of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty

My dear friends,

First of all, I would like to thank you for your generosity in coming here, for turning Rio de Janeiro into the capital of the world on these two days, November the 18th and 19th.

What we will discuss here is very important, and I am sure that if we take responsibility for these issues — hunger and poverty — we will succeed quickly.

That is why I would like to say to all of you: welcome to Rio de Janeiro. Enjoy this city that is known as the Marvelous City.

This city is the synthesis of the contrasts that characterize Brazil, Latin America, and the world.

On one side is nature's exuberant beauty under the open arms of Christ the Redeemer.

A diverse, vibrant, creative, and welcoming people.

On the other, profound social injustices.

A living portrait of persistent historical inequalities.

I attended the first G20 Leaders' Meeting in Washington in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Sixteen years later, I am saddened to see that the world is even worse off. We have the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II, and the highest number of forced displacements ever recorded. Extreme weather events are having devastating effects on every corner of the planet. Social, racial, and gender inequalities are deepening in the wake of a pandemic that has claimed more than 15 million lives. The ultimate symbol of our collective tragedy is hunger and poverty.

According to the FAO, in 2024 there will be 733 million people still facing undernourishment. It is as if the populations of Brazil, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Canada combined were going hungry. These are women, men, and children whose rights to life, education, development, and food are violated daily.

In a world that produces almost 6 billion tons of food per year, this is unacceptable.

In a world where military spending reaches 2.4 trillion dollars, this is unacceptable.

Hunger and poverty are not the result of scarcity or natural phenomena. Hunger, as Brazilian scientist and geographer Josué de Castro said, is “the biological expression of social ills”. It is the product of political decisions that perpetuate the exclusion of a large part of humanity. The G20 represents 85% of the 110 trillion dollars of the global GDP. It also accounts for 75% of the 32 trillion dollars in trade in goods and services and two-thirds of the planet's 8 billion inhabitants.

It is up to those of us gathered around this table to take on the urgent task of ending this scourge that shames humanity.

This is why we have established as the central objective of the Brazilian G20 Presidency the launch of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.

This will be our greatest legacy.

It is not just about doing justice.

This is an essential condition for building more prosperous societies and a world of peace.

It is no coincidence that these are Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 of the 2030 Agenda.

Through the Alliance, we will articulate international recommendations, effective public policies, and sources of financing.

Brazil knows that it is possible.

With the active participation of civil society, we designed and implemented programs for social inclusion, promoting family farming, and food and nutritional security, such as our Bolsa Família and the National School Meals Program.

We managed to leave the FAO Hunger Map in 2014, to which we returned in 2022, in a context of disarticulation of the welfare state.

It was with sadness that, upon returning to the government, I found a country with 33 million hungry people.

In one year and eleven months, the return of these programs has already lifted more than 24.5 million people out of extreme poverty.

By 2026, we will once again have left the Hunger Map — and, with the Alliance, we will do much more.

Those who have always been invisible will be at the center of the international agenda.

We already have the support of 81 countries, 26 international organizations, 9 financial institutions, and 31 philanthropic foundations and non-governmental organizations.

I thank all those involved in the conception and operation of this initiative, who have already announced financial contributions.

It has been a year of intense work, but this is only the beginning.

The Alliance was born in the G20, but its destiny is global.

May this summit be marked by the courage to act.

That is why I want to officially declare that the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty has launched.

Thank you very much.

Well, my friends, we will now begin the discussion among the members of the G20, starting with the countries of the troika. So I would like to hand over the floor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, the last presidency of the G20.