Power-ful Irish Approach To World Hunger

The Irish Government has this week urged world leaders gathered at the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit in New York to accelerate action to tackle the global hunger crisis.

Speaking at a major roundtable discussion on the opening morning of the MDG summit, Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, underscored the urgency of achieving Millennium Development Goal 1 - to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - as statistics show that almost one billion people in the world go hungry every day.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin and Minister Peter Power are attending the two-day summit at the United Nations in New York, where world leaders will review progress towards achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Minister Martin will then deliver the national statement to the Summit, today, Tuesday.

Speaking from New York today Minister Power, said: "With just five years to the target date for achievement of the goals, this summit is an important test of our commitment to the world's poorest people. It is crucial that we candidly examine the uneven nature of our progress and the challenges we have yet to overcome," he said.

"I will focus strongly on the importance of eradicating hunger, given our own history of famine and our long-standing role as advocates for the millions of people who suffer its terrible effects.

"We must acknowledge that failure to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger will impede progress across the other goals. It will perpetuate the cycle of poverty for generations to come: Hunger leaves families more vulnerable to illness; seriously hampers people's capacity to earn a living and forces children to drop out of school.

"I firmly believe that if we take a comprehensive approach to tackling hunger - which incorporates agriculture, health and social supports - we can generate progress across a range of MDGs including maternal mortality, education, employment and gender equality. This must be our first step on the road to 2015."

The forum is being attended by representatives of 50 countries, including Heads of State and Government, and representative of the United Nations, private sector and civil society.

On Tuesday, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin and Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States, will co-host a high-level political event on addressing world hunger in New York.

The event, 1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future Partnering to Reduce Child Undernutrition, will be attended by world leaders, international organizations, civil society and the private sector.

It is designed to highlight action to reduce child under-nutrition, focusing on programmes targeted at the 1,000-day window of opportunity, the period beginning with a woman's pregnancy and continuing until a child is two years old.

Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will moderate a round-table discussion as part of the meeting, which will be attended by 275 guests.

(BMcC/GK)