LOS CABOS, Mexico – ONE is criticizing world leaders at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos for failing to take concrete action tackling extreme poverty despite repeated promises.

ONE President and CEO Michael Elliott says:

“Political courage seems to be in short supply in Los Cabos. The G20 has consistently promised a lot, but delivered very little. If it’s not careful the G20 will rapidly become irrelevant to the most pressing issues facing the world today.

“The Seoul and Cannes summits gave us hope that a new drive on development had begun, but too much of the work that was started has not been advanced by leaders in Los Cabos. There is no mention of the important work done by Bill Gates last year looking at financing for development, and the progress report on food price volatility promised in Cannes has not yet been delivered.

“Leaders must provide substance to their rhetoric by ensuring that their stated desire to address global poverty is backed up by concrete action in the months ahead.”

FOOD SECURITY

Support by the US, UK, Canada, and Australia for AgResults, a new initiative to drive private sector investment into innovative global agricultural solutions, is a step in the right direction on agriculture and food security. But the G20 failed to agree a clear plan to implement the Cannes Action Plan on Agriculture, which demonstrates again their focus on words rather than actions.

Michael Elliott said:

“Despite progress in many countries in tackling hunger and malnutrition, nearly 1 billion people still go to bed hungry every night.

“The AgResults initiative will help fund technological solutions to problems that are too often ignored, and the US, UK, Canada, and Australia have shown important leadership to launch this program.

“But there is more to be done if we’re to prevent millions of children suffering the consequences of severe malnourishment. The G20 set out its goals to fight the scourge of food insecurity in Cannes last year. It should now identify a clear, measurable and transparent framework for achieving them.”

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The renewal of the mandate of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group at Los Cabos is to be welcomed, but it is hugely disappointing that leaders have so far failed to signal their support for new rules to create transparency in the extractive industries and to progress important measures on fiscal transparency.

Michael Elliott continued:

“Transparency, accountability and tackling the scourge of corruption are crucial to making faster progress in the fight against poverty by helping to ensure revenues are spent on vital services like health and education. It is therefore encouraging that the G20 have signaled their intent to continue their work in this area for a further two years.

“But they have made a mistake by staying silent on rules to create transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors. Natural resources have the potential to bring wealth and stability to resource-rich developing countries. The G20 should be following the example of the EU and US, who are implementing new laws, to create a global standard. But instead they’re stalling.”

Contact: Ari Goldberg ([email protected]; 202.330.3577)

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