G20 Finance Ministers Meeting; Lula Warns About Global Hunger

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called on world leaders to collaborate on addressing global hunger ahead of the G20 finance ministers' meeting. Reuters reports that they will not support the implementation of a global tax on billionaires' income. The G20 finance ministers' meeting, chaired by Brazil, will begin on Thursday, July 25, in Rio de Janeiro and will continue until Friday. The G20 consists of the largest economies in the world. In his speech on Wednesday, Lula announced the fight against global hunger as one of Brazil's main priorities during its G20 presidency. He described hunger as the most destructive form of human deprivation and deemed its persistence in the 21st century as absurd. According to the United Nations, 9% of the world's population experienced hunger in 2023. Lula stated, "In the 21st century, nothing is as absurd and unacceptable as the persistence of hunger and poverty, especially when we have so many resources, scientific knowledge, technology, and the AI revolution at our disposal." Lula, who was born into a poor family, emphasized with tears in his eyes, "Hunger is not a natural phenomenon. If hunger exists, it is due to political decisions." The UN approved plans to end global hunger by 2030 in 2015. However, according to a UN report released on Wednesday, 733 million people suffered from hunger last year, constituting 9% of the world's population. Lula remarked, "It is unacceptable that in the middle of the 21st century - when we are discussing artificial intelligence but have yet to utilize our natural intelligence - we still have to plead with leaders around the world, saying: 'Please pay attention to the poor because they are human too.'" Brazil's plan to combat hunger is set to be officially presented in November during the G20 leaders' summit in Brazil. The core of this plan is to find common financial resources to combat hunger and to replicate successful initiatives from various countries. Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, stated, "In today's world, we must coordinate our joint efforts and direct financial resources to where they are most needed. We cannot allow the most vulnerable individuals to have the least access to financial resources." The G20 finance ministers are gathering in Brazil after failing to reach an agreement in their previous meeting in February in São Paulo regarding increased taxes on the wealthiest individuals and preventing tax evasion by billionaires. Two unnamed G20 officials told Reuters on Thursday that it is unlikely that the finance ministers and central bank governors will support Brazil's proposed tax on global billionaires in their joint statement. Brazil hopes to gain more support for its proposal during this recent meeting. France, Spain, Colombia, Belgium, and the African Union have previously supported the establishment of a global minimum tax on billionaires. South Africa, which will chair the G20 next year, also supports such a tax. However, some G20 member countries, particularly Germany, oppose this proposal. Sources in the German Ministry of Finance stated that this proposal will not be discussed in recent planning meetings. These sources added that discussions will focus on other issues such as combating tax evasion and asset concealment. One G20 official familiar with the discussions told Reuters that the joint statement to be released on Thursday should include a call for cooperation in combating tax evasion by the wealthy. A broader press statement is expected to be issued on Friday at the conclusion of the meetings. Oxfam has reported ahead of the G20 summit in Brazil that the wealth of the richest 1% of the world's population has increased by a total of $42 trillion over the past decade. The G20 finance ministers hope to make progress on taxing multinational corporations during their current meeting.