Shanghai Conference on Scaling Up Poverty Reduction Address by His Excellency Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva President of the Republic of Brazil Shanghai, China May 25-27, 2004
Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great satisfaction for me to be in Shanghai, as part of my first visit to China as President of Brazil. I am especially pleased to be in this beautiful and dynamic city at a conference on a theme that is so dear to Brazil and to me personally. Fighting hunger and poverty has always been at the center of my attention, and today it is a central theme for my government's domestic and international actions. I know what hunger and poverty really are. I also know that the problems of hunger and poverty will not be solved overnight. Overcoming poverty demands much more than emergency measures or handouts, although these are both important. We will not solve the problem of poverty until we can conjugate economic growth with social justice. In Brazil, we are fighting hunger, poverty and inequality. At the same time, for the medium and long term, we are trying to emancipate the beneficiaries of social welfare programs. We are working with a strong sense of urgency to enable millions of Brazilians to achieve conditions of human dignity and become true citizens. The Zero Hunger Program expresses the government's concern with assuring quality, volume and regularity in access to food for all Brazilians. In addition to distributing food, structural measures are also required. We promote the purchase of food produced by small farmers, in order to support local development. We also support the construction of cisterns to store water and the creation of food banks. All of this is associated with greater access to health and to schooling. Partnerships with the private sector are a 1
fundamental aspect of Zero Hunger. Mobilizations by the private sector and by civil society reveal our commitment to public control over the programs. One of the government's other key programs, the Family Stipend, arose from the unification and the expansion of earlier income-transfer programs for poor families earning less than US$35 per month. Today this program is benefiting approximately four million families. By the end of this year, 6.5 million families will be included in this Program. With coordinated and integrated management, the unified transfer of financial benefits has significantly improved the quality of public spending. The government has many other social programs, including those aimed at literacy for adults and young people, family health and poverty eradication. Following a first year of difficult economic adjustments, we have entered a cycle of sustained growth. Between January and April, this year, 534,000 new jobs were created, the best result since 1992. There is also much to be done abroad, particularly to support international efforts to fight hunger and poverty. We must promote the expansion of world markets for products from developing countries and support free and balanced international trade that can provide opportunities to distribute wealth for all who participate in it. That goal, however, depends on putting an end to the scandalous subsidies that many developed countries provide for their own agricultural production and exports, thereby generating serious distortions and asymmetries in the world economy. We cannot allow cows in some developed countries to receive over two dollars in subsidies every day, while half of the people in the world must survive on even less than that. A month ago Brazil and other developing countries won an unprecedented victory on the issue of subsidies for cotton production and exports. We already visualize the magnitude of this precedent 2
and its importance in the struggle against such obstacles to the economic and social development of two thirds of humanity. We must also assure respect for the commitments and timetables upon which we agreed at the Monterrey and Johannesburg Conferences, to increase official development aid. The eradication of poverty demands that each of us carry our weight. I have come to Shanghai to reiterate the call I made at other international gatherings: in Porto Alegre, Davos, Evian, London, New York and Geneva. I have been calling on the private sector and on individual donors as well to make contributions to the various funds and initiatives to eradicate hunger and poverty. The IBSA Fund, created last year by India, Brazil and South Africa under the aegis of the UNDP, is a pioneering initiative. Three developing countries, aware of their moral, political and economic duty to aid their peers in overcoming poverty, took the lead in inaugurating a fund that fits precisely with the central theme of this Conference in Shanghai. The Fund was conceived to finance good practices and successful projects that can be broadened and replicated in other developing countries. It will not compete but rather complement existing proposals, such as the World Solidarity Fund, an initiative of Tunisia. Agencies of the United Nations system responsible for the areas of food security, health, education and sanitation will participate in these projects. Last January, I met in Geneva with President Chirac of France, President Lagos of Chile and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. In a joint declaration, we expressed our determination to work together with other interested world leaders on a plan of action to overcome hunger and poverty. We agreed to make a joint appeal for the creation of a global alliance to mobilize political will and financial support. This is our 3
only chance to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. That is why we created a technical group to study proposals for alternative funding mechanisms. These would include taxing certain financial movements in fiscal paradises, arms trade and the British proposal for an International Finance Facility (IFF). We have no monopoly on good ideas, nor do we wish to "re-invent the wheel." We do, however, want to find the means to fulfill our unfulfilled commitments. Above all, this effort demands mobilization. We are also discussing ways to promote socially responsible investment and voluntary contributions from the private sector. The group's report should be ready by July. It will be circulated to UN members and, after incorporating contributions from governments and institutions, it will be the basis for the meeting to which I am inviting all world leaders on September 20 in New York, with the support of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Two weeks from now, in Sao Paulo, we will be hosting the UNCTAD XI Conference, whose theme could not be more contemporary or timely. UNCTAD can make an enormous contribution to promoting wide-ranging discussions on globalization, trade, economic growth and development with social fairness. At the end of June, I will be in New York to address the Global Compact, an institution that brings together a select group of socially responsible companies. There I will reiterate my call for each of us to play our roles in fighting hunger and poverty. The international agenda has focused excessively on security issues. We must re-balance the international agenda to pay more attention to social issues. Hunger is actually the worst of all weapons of mass destruction, claiming 4
millions of victims every year. Fighting hunger and poverty and promoting development are the truly sustainable way to achieve world peace. Humanity's security is indivisible. We cannot dissociate political, economic, social, environmental aspects from the issue of security. There will be no peace without development, and there will be neither peace nor development without social justice. I propose a change in attitude, a genuine global partnership. Let us dare to create a new development model, capable of generating better living conditions for the most vulnerable among us. This is not a utopia. Together, we can advance towards a world of prosperity and equity. This Shanghai Conference and events on poverty-related issues make up a web of opportunities to enable the mid-2005 review of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals to identify concrete and feasible solutions to the overriding challenge of our times: the fight against hunger and poverty. I reiterate here my call for all Heads of State and of Government to participate in the September 20 gathering in New York and to contribute to this political mobilization in favor of a genuine policy for fighting hunger and poverty. Thank you very much. 5