The European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen discusses the Bloc's commitments to proposals regarding sustainable development and the support to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's initiative to eradicate hunger and poverty globally.
In an exclusive interview for the G20 Brasil website, European Union Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen shared her perspectives on the role of the European Union in combating global inequalities and the support to Brasil's G20 presidency's initiatives such as the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, which she considers to be a "light of hope" in a world impacted by the recent crises.
With a trajectory marked by the defense of social justice and education, the commissioner, who is also a Finnish citizen, highlights the importance of international partnerships to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Urpilainen stressed the European Union's commitment to invest in education as a transformative tool and in food safety as a key pillar for the autonomous development of the Global South countries.
One of the goals of Brasil's G20 presidency is to build partnerships to reduce global poverty and support sustainable development. In which ways is the European Union working in this direction and what are the main commitments from the G20 for the upcoming years?
First of all, I want to congratulate Brasil's G20 presidency for putting the fight against inequalities at the center of the global agenda. I think this is great and a great way to call the attention of politics to this matter, which is extremely important and very dear to me. In terms of the European Union, combating inequalities and eradicating poverty and hunger are at the core of our international partnerships. We are greatly committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030. In terms of cooperation for development and international partnerships, we support our partners in the Global South, including Brasil and Latin America, to eradicate poverty, for example, through education.
I was a teacher and I believe that investment in education is the most transformative tool to change societies, develop people's capacities, and also combat inequalities. For example, the European Union increased its funding for education from 7% to 13%. So 13% of our external funding goes to education; this is a great example of our commitment to poverty eradication.
How does the European Union see the proposal by the Brazilian presidency and the support of the member states to build a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty?
I believe it is a very interesting initiative and we are going to support it. We definitely need more political commitment to fight poverty and hunger.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we have seen several negative impacts in the societies of our partnering countries. More people are suffering from poverty and hunger. This new initiative by President Lula is bringing a light of hope to the world, for political leaders to strongly commit to the fight against poverty and hunger.
We are making large investments in nutrition and food security through our international partnerships. Between 2022 and 2023, we allocated around 13.5 billion Euros for food security. This number includes the contributions from the Commission but also from our 27 member States. Our goal is to really strengthen the resilience of our partnering countries.
This new initiative by President Lula is bringing a light of hope to the world, for political leaders to strongly commit to the fight against poverty and hunger.We are making large investments in nutrition and food security through our international partnerships. Between 2022 and 2023, we allocated around 13.5 billion Euros for food security.
We want to support food autonomy so that countries in Africa do not rely so much on food imports and so that they can produce food in Africa for Africa. So we are very focused on sustainable agricultural production as well as agricultural systems and value chains.
From now on, the African Union is a full member of the G20...
We strongly support the adhesion of the African Union to the G20. We are excited that Africa is now represented at the G20 table. Most of the least developed countries are in Africa. And that is why we must pay special attention to this continent, as is the case with accelerating technology production. We adopted the Global Gateway investment strategy two and a half years ago. Our goal is to invest 300 billion Euros by 2027. We are working with the private sector to accelerate investments in the Global South.
We are focussing on climate and energy, transportation, digital development, education, and health. In terms of vaccine production, the Global Gateway initiative supports vaccine production in Africa and Latin America.
One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis, for example, was that Africa still relies greatly on the importation of vaccines and medicines. They import 99% of the vaccines and 94% of the medicines they consume. If we look at Latin America, the numbers are smaller, but they still rely greatly on importation. I believe it is fair to bring technology and support our partners in Africa and Latin America so that they can produce more vaccines and medicines.
In which ways have the Global North countries been impacted by social inequalities and regional conflicts?
We live in an interconnected world. I believe this was one of the great lessons learned from COVID-19. A small virus that really impacted the entire world. And this is why it is so important to support our partners in the Global South in their sustainable development.
At the same time, we also need to combat inequalities within Europe, because we are not perfect. We also have many challenges in terms of inequalities related to income and poverty inside our member States. This is what makes it a common goal, to fight inequalities through taxation, through economic policies, but also through the Sustainable Development Goals, which are the compass for the entire world, for a better future, so that no one is left behind.
How do you evaluate Brasil's leadership of the G20?
My honest opinion is that it has been a very successful presidency up to this moment. I believe that an example of this is that we have managed to adopt political declarations at the Development Ministers Meeting. I am very happy, as Commissioner, that one of the proposals was precisely the one about the fight against inequalities. I am excited to be able to participate in the ministerial meeting here in Rio de Janeiro.
