Aid groups urge G20 to focus on balanced growth

International aid groups on Tuesday urged G20 leaders meeting in Mexico next week to look beyond the Europe crisis and focus on balanced growth that will help the world’s poor.

In a pre-summit conference call, organizations including Oxfam, ActionAid USA, ONE and World Vision said that the developed world was bearing the brunt of the global financial crisis despite not having caused it.

“We want a G20 that focuses on growth. But there are forgotten crises out there that impact the world’s poor,” said Sam Worthington, president of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based non-governmental organizations.

“They need inclusive growth and attention to climate change and the impact of biofuels, open anti-corruption efforts... and a focus on food security and ultimately on the nutrition of children,” Worthington said.

“These are crises that may not necessarily be discussed at the G20 but they are central to the lives of billions of people around the world.”

The June 18-19 summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) major economies in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos is expected to be dominated by discussions on resolving the eurozone’s crippling debt crisis and restoring global growth.

“It’s clear that the G20 will focus on growth but since 2009 they have repeatedly promised to deliver strong, sustainable and balanced growth and they have equally repeatedly failed to live up to that commitment,” said Oxfam’s G20 coordinator Steve Price-Thomas.

“That matters not only to Europe but to the whole world and in particular to developing countries, because poor countries have reached the limits of their financial ability to defend themselves against the global crisis, which was caused by the rich world.”