G20 reaffirms commitment to fighting hunger, promoting sustainable development, reforming global governance

Rio de Janeiro [Brazil], November 19 (ANI): A joint statement issued by leaders of the Group of 20 economies at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil focused this year's work on three priorities -- social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty; sustainable development, energy transitions and climate action; and the reform of global governance institutions.

The G20 Rio De Janeiro Leaders' Declaration said, "We remain resolute in our commitment to fighting hunger, poverty, and inequality, promoting sustainable development in its economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and reforming global governance. We welcome Saudi Arabia's ambition to advance its turn for hosting the G20 Presidency in the next cycle. We thank Brazil for its leadership this year and look forward to working together in 2025 under South Africa's Presidency and meeting again in the United States in 2026."The declaration reaffirmed the role of the G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation and asserted that they share a collective responsibility for the effective stewardship of the global economy, fostering the conditions for sustainable, resilient and inclusive global growth. "We remain committed to support developing countries in responding to global crises and challenges and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals," it added.

The statement further said, "We live in times of major geopolitical, socioeconomic, and climate and environmental challenges and crises, which require urgent action. With only six years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, progress towards only 1 per cent of the SDG targets is on track, nearly half are showing minimal or moderate progress, and progress on over one third has stalled or even regressed."The G20 nations further committed to advancing the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and a safer place for all and will uphold our obligations in this regard. They also condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and asserted that peaceful resolution of conflicts and efforts to address crises as well as diplomacy and dialogue are critical.

On food security, the declaration stated, "We underscore the G20 commitment to the importance of food security and nutrition and of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food as reaffirmed through the Deccan High-Level Principles. Agriculture is at the forefront of addressing key challenges, such as fighting poverty, ending hunger, improving nutrition, while confronting climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and desertification. While recognizing there is no one size-fits-all solution to the challenges of agriculture and food systems, we commit to support developing countries to enhance their capacity for sustainable food production and marketing. We also renew our commitment to work towards sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and reducing food loss and waste including by increasing our efforts to achieve the UN SDG 12.3 target on food losses and waste."The declaration also emphasized the role of sustainable development in its three dimensions - economic, social, and environmental - as a guiding principle for cooperation for people, planet and prosperity, with the ultimate goal of overcoming our collective challenges. They reaffirmed their respective commitments to scale up urgent action to address the crises and challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, ocean and land degradation, drought and pollution.

The statement further said, "We reaffirm the Paris Agreement temperature goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change."The G20 Declaration also pledged to reform the Security Council through a transformative reform that aligns it with the realities and demands of the 21st century, makes it more representative, inclusive, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable, and more transparent to the whole of the UN membership, allowing for better responsibility sharing among all its members, while improving the effectiveness and transparency of its working methods.

"We call for an enlarged Security Council composition that improves the representation of the underrepresented and unrepresented regions and groups, such as Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean. We pledge to strengthen the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) through greater synergies and coherence with UN Agencies, Funds and Programs to better promote sustainable development in its three dimensions and to assist member states in achieving the SDGs.

"We welcome the African Union as a full member of the G20. Africa's voice should be amplified in the G20 and all other international fora. We reiterate our strong support to Africa including through the Compact with Africa and the G20 initiative on supporting industrialisation in Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and support the African Union to realize the trade and economic integration and aspirations under its Agenda 2063 as it enters its second decade of implementation," the declaration stated. (ANI)