Fighting global hunger is a priority for Ireland’s International Development Programme. Under-nutrition is an often silent element of hunger which has devastating consequences. Over four in ten children under the age of five in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished. Under-nutrition not only puts these children at greater risk of infection and death, but it also stops them reaching their full potential in school and ultimately achieving economic success and productivity. In the context of its G8 Presidency, the British Government, in partnership with the Government of Brazil and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), will host a ‘Day of International Action’ entitled ‘Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science’ on 8 June 2013 in London.
Ireland is a core partner on this initiative and I am pleased that the Taoiseach will attend this event at the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron. It will build on the Olympic Hunger Summit held at Downing Street in August 2012 in which the Taoiseach participated. Ireland will continue its strong international advocacy and action on the importance of investment to address under-nutrition and to harness support for low income countries to address this challenge.
I also welcome the opportunity to have dialogue on tax transparency in the forthcoming agenda of the G8 Summit. Efficient and fair tax systems in developing countries are essential for sustainable growth, poverty reduction and the provision of basic services. They are also vital for the promotion of good governance and for ensuring social cohesion. Tax avoidance and evasion, therefore, present a major issue for developing countries seeking to drive their own development.
Ireland is playing a strong role at national level and in global efforts to increase revenue generation and tackle tax avoidance and evasion in developing countries. The brokering by Ireland of an agreement in the EU for the revision of the EU transparency and accounting directives, which when passed into legislation will improve transparency among EU multinational companies involved in extractive and logging industries in developing countries, is one recent example of this.
Ireland’s new Policy for International Development, One World, One Future , firmly commits to supporting developing countries to raise their own domestic revenue in ways that are more efficient, fairer and better promote good governance and equitable development. In the Policy, the Government commits to advancing efforts to combat tax evasion, illicit financial flows and capital flight that are stripping developing countries of badly needed resources for the provision of basic services and the tackling of poverty.
Ireland recognises that given the integrated nature of today’s global financial and economic systems, many of the challenges in this area can only be overcome through international cooperation. Bringing together as it does some of the world’s major economic powers, the Tax, Trade and Transparency Summit on June 15 is therefore a very welcome initiative. Ireland, through the European Union’s participation in this Summit, will push for ambitious steps to be taken on these matters.
