International community called on to honour commitments to tackle hunger and under-nutrition
8/7/13PRESS RELEASE
Minister Costello calls for international community to honour commitments to tackle hunger and under-nutrition
Minister for Trade and Development Joe Costello has urged the international community to step up efforts to tackle hunger and under-nutrition as the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 approaches.
He pledged that Ireland would build on the important progress made during our Presidency of the Council of the European Union this year.
Speaking at the Institute for International and European Affairs in Dublin today, Minister Costello detailed Ireland’s key achievements in the area of international development. He set out Irish and EU objectives to guide our work in the lead-up to 2015, when the international community will agree a framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals.
The Minister said:
“Tackling global hunger, and in particular the scourge of undernutrition, has been a central focus of the Irish Presidency. While, as a global community, we have made some good progress under the Millennium Development Goals, the reality is that one billion people still live in extreme poverty and 870 million people live with hunger.”
Minister Costello said the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Development in May, at which he represented the Irish Presidency, had reached important conclusions on the EU’s approach to development in the years ahead:
“European Ministers agreed on policies that will ensure that the EU implements commitments on under-nutrition and food insecurity and that all member states will be held accountable for them.
“Honouring our pledges will help us to ensure that we can realise the vision of a world free from hunger and under-nutrition in our lifetime, a world where all children get the chance to survive, grow, and reach their full potential.”
Minister Costello set out the key elements of Ireland’s new national policy on development, which was launched during the Presidency under the title ‘One World, One Future’.
Minister Costello’s speech “Building on Ireland’s EU Presidency: Challenges for the Future of Global Development” is one of a series of talks on contemporary development issues in international relations which is run by the IIEA in close cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade .
Press office
8 July 2013
For further information contact Fionnuala Quinlan, press officer Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on 01 408 2653/087 9099 975
Note for editors
- Irish Aid is the Government’s programme of overseas assistance. It is managed by the Development Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Further information is available at www.irishaid.ie.
- Irish Aid’s policy, One World One Future, can be accessed at http://www.irishaid.ie/media/irishaid/allwebsitemedia/20newsandpublications/publicationpdfsenglish/One-World-One-Future-Executive-Summary---English.pdf
- For more information on Institute for International and European Affairs, see http://www.iiea.com/