Bono asks President Sarkozy to remember 925 million people facing acute hunger when setting French budget

Bono today met President Sarkozy in New York on the fringes of a critical UN meeting on global poverty

Following the meeting Bono said:

“For a brief moment before the financial crisis exploded, we read in our newspapers about 925 million people facing hunger, 75 million more than a year ago. They are no longer front page news, but they are still hungry. There are serious plans in place to deal with this, but these are not being funded. We discussed how President Sarkozy plans to find a solution. He is the man to do this. This week he will send his budget to parliament, and I hope he remembers those people when he does. The current economic meltdown shows what happens when you ignore a problem. I’m sure President Sarkozy doesn’t want to make the same mistake with 925 million people who will go to bed hungry again tonight, like every night. He has some great ideas, we’ll find out on Friday whether the budget will allow France a leadership role on the continent of Africa at a time when Africa is more and more important both strategically and economically.”