MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula insists world hunger is a political choice

“Spending on armaments rose 7% last year,” Lula noted while funding against world famine is nowhere near

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insisted during a G20 event in Rio de Janeiro that fighting hunger was a political choice, Agencia Brasil reported. The South American leader also pledged to steer his country out of that plight during his ongoing term.

“Hunger is not just the result of external factors, it is above all the result of political choices. Today the world produces more than enough food to eradicate it. We just need to create the conditions for access to food,” argued Lula, who underlined that “spending on armaments rose 7% last year, reaching US$ 2.4 trillion.”

”Reversing this logic is a moral imperative of social justice, but also essential for sustainable development,” added the Workers' Party (PT) leader during the pre-launch of the task force for the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty in Brazil's former capital.

“Hunger is not something natural; hunger is something that requires a political decision,” Lula also noted. “It is not possible that, halfway into the 21st century, when we are already discussing artificial intelligence, unable to resort to the natural intelligence that we all have, we are still obliged to hold a discussion telling our political leaders around the world, ‘please look at the poor because they are human beings, they are people and they want to have opportunities’,” the hosting president went on to say.

The alliance is to be proposed by Brazil at the G20 Summit in November. It will be financed through taxing the super-rich, Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad explained. The initiative is one of Brazil's priorities as pro-tempore G20 president. The group brings together 19 of the largest economies in the world plus the European Union and the African Union.

Haddad cited a study by French economist Gabriel Zucman, commissioned by Brazil, which suggests that taxing billionaires at 2%of their wealth could generate up to US$ 250 billion annually. “That's approximately five times the amount allocated by the ten largest multilateral banks to combat hunger and poverty in 2022,” Haddad noted.

“It is imperative that we mobilize to increase international resources for addressing hunger and poverty. We must explore innovative financing instruments for development,” he also pointed out.

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Ilan Goldfajn, a Brazilian national, said that his organization was committed to eradicating extreme poverty in Latin America by 2030.