UN: The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, will represent Ireland at a special meeting in the UN today, convened by President Lula of Brazil to discuss the world poverty emergency. Some 40 heads of state and scores of foreign ministers will attend the event, which is taking place on the eve of the annual debate of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
Along with President Lula, France's President Jaques Chirac, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, and the president of Chile, Mr Ricardo Lagos will speak on the issue of how to finance the efforts of developing countries to end hunger and promote economic growth.
The meeting is held amid growing concern that the aim of halving the number of people who live on less than one US dollar per day - estimated at over a billion - by the year 2015 will not be met because of insufficient funding from the international community. This was one of the goals set by the Millennium Summit of world leaders, including the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, at the UN four years ago but Brazil estimates that, unless there is a dramatic change of pace, this target and others will not be met for over a century.
A preparatory meeting in Geneva last January, attended by the Brazilian, French and Chilean presidents together with Mr Annan, decided to explore "new sources of finance, such as taxation on certain sales of arms, taxes on financial transactions, voluntary and socially responsible investments and environmental taxation". A British government proposal to establish an International Financing Facility, using capital markets to increase the amount of development aid available, is also under consideration.
As part of his "Zero Hunger" campaign, President Lula has called for "a new trade geography" between rich and poor nations. Brazil is also lobbying for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council under new UN reform proposals currently being drafted.
Mr Cowen will attend the first week of the General Assembly debate, which opens tomorrow with speeches from President Bush and other world leaders. The Minister will himself address the Assembly on Thursday, probably one of his last public engagements in his present role, since he is widely expected to become minister for finance after next week's Cabinet reshuffle.
Also this week, Mr Cowen is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with foreign ministers or heads of state from Iraq, Sudan, Iran, Eritrea, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Indonesia and Burundi as well as a representative of the Western Sahara-based Polisario Front. Along with European colleagues, he will meet a US delegation headed by the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, as well as a breakfast meeting with a Russian delegation led by the Foreign Minister, Mr Sergei Lavrov. At the weekend, he will visit Boston to receive the Irish Immigration Centre's "Solas" award, presented by Senator Edward Kennedy.
