Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Education and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman's Engagements at the G20 Development Ministers' Meeting and Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty Task Force Ministerial Meeting in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 22 to 24 July 2024

              Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Education and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to attend the G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting (DMM) and Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty Task Force Ministerial Meeting (GAHPTFMM).

               At the DMM, the Development Ministers committed to assisting developing countries accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. They also emphasised the importance of fighting inequalities, ensuring universal access to water and sanitation, and tapping on trilateral cooperation as a unique approach to development. At the GAHPTFMM, the Ministers of the G20 Task Force for the establishment of a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty (GAHP) endorsed the founding documents of the GAHP and renewed their commitment to eradicating global hunger and poverty.

                In his interventions, Minister Maliki emphasised the need for fundamental shifts in our thinking and the way we organise our societies, which would contribute to the international community’s efforts to end hunger and poverty by 2030. Minister Maliki also took the opportunity to highlight areas where the G20 can focus their efforts in achieving access to water and sanitation, based on Singapore’s experience in water and waste management.The full text of Minister Maliki’s remarks is appended.

                On the sidelines of the DMM and the GAHPTFMM, Minister Maliki met Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation of Egypt, Dr Rania Al Mashat, Minister of Economy and Planning of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Faisal Al Ibrahim, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of Portugal Paulo Rangel, Minister of Agriculture of South Africa John Steenhuisen, Deputy Minister for Planning Monitoring and Evaluation of South Africa Seiso Mohai, and Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy. Minister Maliki also took the opportunity to reiterate our thanks to the President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira for the invitation to Singapore to attend these G20 meetings.

               Minister Maliki leaves Rio de Janeiro on 24 July 2024 for Belo Horizonte, the capital of the second most populous Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where he will continue his working visit in Brazil until 26 July 2024.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

25 JULY 2024

G20 DEVELOPMENT MINISTERS’ MEETING

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

22 - 23 JULY 2024

INTERVENTION FOR SESSION I:

ENSURING ACCESS TO WATER AND SANITATION

Minister Vieira

Colleagues,

          Singapore welcomes Brazil’s focus on ensuring access to water and sanitation.

          At 700 square kilometres, we are one of the world’s most water stressed countries. Allow me to highlight four areas we can look at.

          First, capacity building and knowledge sharing is key. Singapore has shared our expertise on water management through capacity building courses under the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), and we will continue to do so. We host the Singapore International Water Week biennially to bring together water experts, government officials, businesses, academics, and civil society to exchange views on innovative ways to conserve and manage scarce supply. To help raise global awareness, Singapore tabled a United Nations resolution in 2013, known as Sanitation for All, which was adopted unanimously, and which officially designated 19 November as the World Toilet Day, to flag the need for all to have access to sanitation.

          Second, we should leverage science, technology, and innovation to accelerate progress. According to a 2023 report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), new technologies such as AI, big data, and the Internet of Things can improve existing water and sanitation infrastructure. In Singapore, we have tapped on NEWater to diversify our water supply. NEWater is ultra-clean, high-grade reclaimed water produced via a 3-step treatment of used water using advanced membrane technologies.
In terms of water conservation, we deploy smart water meters in our public housing and encourage smart shower devices usage to help households manage water consumption. We also deploy advanced sensors across transmission network to detect and address water leaks early.

          Third, in Singapore, water is priced to reflect its scarcity value. Use of sound economic principles in pricing water is important to keep demand and supply in balance. Stringent regulations are also in place to ensure that water is properly disposed of and does not contaminate valuable water resources.
We engage the community to raise awareness and inculcate responsible water usage behaviour. In addition, measures are put in place to help businesses use water more efficiently.

          Fourth, we need to address the significant financing gap in water, sanitation, and hygiene, or WASH. The World Bank has highlighted the need for 6.7 trillion US dollars in investments in water-related infrastructure. It is difficult for public funding alone to meet this demand. Instead, we can tap on innovative financing mechanisms such as blended finance to mobilise resources from the private sector and philanthropic organisations.

          Singapore looks forward to working with the G20 towards achieving universal access to water and sanitation for all.

          Thank you, Mr Chair.

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G20 DEVELOPMENT MINISTERS’ MEETING

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

22 - 23 JULY 2024

INTERVENTION FOR SESSION II:

FIGHTING INEQUALITIES AND TRILATERAL COOPERATION

Minister Vieira

Colleagues,

          Progress towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is severely off-track. Comprising the world’s major economies, the G20 has the heft to galvanise the international community in doing more to assist developing countries in achieving the SDGs. Hence, the topic of this session is salient.

          Allow me to share Singapore’s experiences in four areas where we can reduce inequalities domestically:

          First, education. We believe that education for all is key to levelling the playing field as it provides our citizens with the opportunity to develop their potential. Governments should provide more resources to lower segments of societies and ensure that everyone has access to quality education regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic background; and from early childhood onwards as studies have pointed out the importance of this foundational stage in developing academic, cognitive, emotional, and social skills. As each of these individuals have their strengths, we should ensure there are multiple pathways to success.

          Second, lifelong learning. Sustainable economic development that ensures employment is critical. As societies and industries evolve, for example, from digital economy to AI, we must provide continuous skills training so that our working population remains employable.

          Third, good health is fundamental. It is vital that our people have access to quality healthcare and can lead healthy lives.

          Fourth, housing. We should ensure that different segments of our society have access to adequate and affordable housing.

          At the global level, there is more that we can do. Specifically, trilateral cooperation allows partners to tap on one another’s complementary strengths. Such collaborations are vital to implementing the 2030 Agenda.

          In 1992, Singapore established the Singapore Cooperation Programme, or SCP, to pay forward the technical assistance Singapore received from the international community in our early years.

          To date, more than 150,000 officials from over 180 countries, territories, and intergovernmental organisations have participated in our SCP courses in areas such as sustainability, digitalisation, and public health. Under our Third Country Training Programmes, we work closely with developed and developing countries, including Brazil, Japan, the UK, the US, and International Organisations such as the World Bank and UNICEF, to conduct capacity building programmes. Our Singapore Cooperation Centres in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam aim to bring together ASEAN Dialogue Partners, foreign development assistance agencies, and NGOs, to enhance technical assistance to these countries. In 2022, recognising the complexity of global challenges we face today, we launched the Sustainability Action Package to build capacities of developing countries in tackling sustainability issues.

          Singapore will continue to do our part in helping other developing countries achieve the SDGs. We look forward to work with the G20 on trilateral cooperation.

          Thank you, Mr Chair.

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GLOBAL ALLIANCE AGAINST HUNGER AND POVERTY

TASK FORCE MINISTERIAL MEETING (GAHPTFMM)

24 JULY 2024

INTERVENTION FOR PLENARY SESSION

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

MAIN SESSION

Colleagues,

The data onhunger and poverty remain very worrying. It is projected that more than 600 million people worldwide will still be facing hunger by 2030, and 575 million will continue to live in extreme poverty – there is little difference from where we were in 2015 when we adopted the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2 to end poverty and hunger respectively by 2030. Brazil’s initiative of a Global Alliance to tackle these issues is particularly salient.

Solving hunger and poverty requires a few fundamental shifts in our thinking and the way we organise our societies.

First, quality education for all gives everyone, regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic background, a pathway to earning a livelihood. It is also important that our people are given good opportunities to acquire new work skills and be retrained to remain employable, as societies and technologies evolve.

Second, access to quality and affordable basic medical services, as well as access to clean water and sanitation for all, so that our people can carry out their daily activities productively. 

Third, addressing hunger as part of the broader challenge of food insecurity brought on by climate change and supply chain disruptions. We cannot solve hunger and food insecurity without addressing these issues as they are intertwined.

Those are three shifts in our thinking that we must make. It is not a zero-sum game where there is a trade-off between one part of the world at the expense of another. Allow me to highlight some possible solutions to translate that thinking into action:

First, supporting developing countries with our experiences in capacity building, as well as developing vital infrastructure to ensure that they are climate resilient. Developing countries, in particular, the Small Island Developing States, are amongst the hardest hit by climate change and will require more support in this regard.

Second, new international financing strategies. To address the rising challenges, we must mobilise more resources, including from the private sector and philanthropic sources, as public sector funding alone is unlikely to be able to meet increasing demand.

Third, strengthening of multilateralism. Governments should strengthen cooperation to build a more open and inclusive global governance system, which takes into consideration the views of all countries, big and small, as well as developed and developing, so that the solutions adequately address their priority needs and challenges.  

Once again, Singapore welcomes the Brazilian Presidency’s strong focus on the reduction of global hunger and poverty. We look forward to working with the G20 on these efforts.

Thank you, Mr Chair.

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