Brazil finance minister invites global finance ministers to attend United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)

BRASÍLIA (24 April 2012) – In a meeting hosted by the World Bank in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 20, which brought together 30 finance ministers from around the world, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega stressed the importance of their involvement in discussions at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).  He noted that international finance ministers will help conference achieve concrete objectives: "The support of finance ministers is important because without the ministers of economy, who are in general those that enable the projects, the initiatives would be weaker."

At Friday’s meeting, which was attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, director of the IMF Christine Lagarde, and president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, Minister Mantega urged his colleagues to participate in a panel of finance ministers during Rio+20: "Rio+20 will go down in history for the involvement of finance ministers in the discussions around sustainable development.  This will bring an important synergy to the conference that will enable us to achieve better results,” he said.  

The aim of Rio+20 is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and address new challenges.

The two themes of Rio+20 will focus on: a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and the institutional framework for sustainable development. 

The United Nations expects that at Rio+20, world leaders, CEOs and members of civil society are expected to make decisions, announce commitments, and encourage actions on how to reduce poverty and inequality and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet. 

Through official negotiations, statements and roundtables, the participating governments, businesses and NGO leaders are expected to set the sustainability agenda for the next 20 years.  They are expected to identify goals and potential solutions to address urgent global challenges, such as   lack of accessibility to energy and water, depleted oceans, food insecurity, growing economic inequality and expanding cities.

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