IRELAND’S COMMITMENT to fighting famine has projected it on to the world stage for the two-day Millennium Development Goals Summit.
Peter Power, Minister of State for Overseas Development, addressed the opening round table here yesterday, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin will co-chair the most prestigious event of the summit with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton today.
Asked whether recent developments in Irish politics were an embarrassment to Ireland abroad, Mr Power said, “No, because we are here in New York presenting a fabulously good and positive story for Ireland. The next two days will enhance our reputation internationally.
“Given our history of famine and our long-standing role as advocates for the millions of people who suffer its terrible effects, I will focus strongly on the importance of eradicating hunger.”
The joint initiative by the US and Ireland is the result of a serendipitous confluence of interests.
In a bilateral meeting last year, Mr Martin and Ms Clinton discovered that hunger was a priority for both their governments. Ireland completed a Hunger Task Force report two years ago, and President Barack Obama prefigured the US “Feed the Future” and “Global Health” initiatives at the Aquila G8 summit in July 2009.
Eight millennium development goals were endorsed by 189 heads of state in 2000. They include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, empowering women, reducing child mortality, and combating HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases – all by 2015.
This week’s summit will assess progress two-thirds of the way to the 2015 deadline. Advances have been made in primary education and fighting disease, but the US and Ireland say eradicating hunger has not received the priority it deserves.
This morning’s event with Mr Martin and Ms Clinton, in the presence of UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, is titled “1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future”.
“We are concentrating on the 1,000-day window from conception up to two years of age, when food is critically important for a young child,” said Mr Power.
“The goals are not realisable at all unless we tackle the critical issue of hunger, because under-nourished children will not be able to develop healthily or access education, and will be susceptible to disease. All the other [goals] will be undermined if we don’t tackle the one billion people and 300 million children who are under-nourished.”
Mr Martin and Ms Clinton are expected to call for $11 billion (€8.4 billion) per year to fight child malnutrition. Ireland devotes €671 million to development aid, the equivalent of 0.53 per cent of GNP. Volume has decreased in the recession, but is constant as a percentage of GNP.
One-fifth of Ireland’s aid is committed to fighting hunger, and priority is given to helping the most vulnerable, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
The millennium development goals require countries to give 0.7 per cent annually to development aid by 2015. In per capita terms, Ireland ranks seventh among developed countries, and the Irish Government maintains it will reach the 0.7 per cent target.
The summit will be followed by the UN General Assembly on Thursday. In the absence of Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Mr Martin will represent Ireland, delivering no less than five speeches on hunger and arms control and including Ireland’s annual statement to the UN on the evening of September 27th.
After the event with Ms Clinton this morning, Mr Martin will attend the EU-US foreign ministers’ conference and dinner. Topics of discussion are expected to include Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and European security. After the dinner, Mr Martin will deliver Ireland’s statement to the summit.
Ireland will assume chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2012, and in this context Mr Martin will meet his counterparts from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia.
He will hold a dozen bilateral meetings – dubbed s “speed-dating for ministers” by a diplomat – including an appointment with Amr Musa, the secretary general of the Arab League.
On Thursday and Friday Mr Martin will reassert Ireland’s historic role as a voice for nuclear disarmament in meetings on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and at a session devoted to reinvigorating the Geneva Conference on Disarmament. He will also meet the Irish-American Leadership Council and attend a reception hosted by consul general Noel Kilkenny tomorrow evening.