Anglicans take part in Mexican G20 talks
11 May 2012
Anglicans in Mexico will have a voice in the agenda of the G20 meeting of the world’s richest nations which takes place in June in Mexico City.
The secretary General of the Anglican Church of Mexico, the Revd Canon Habacuc Ramos-Huerta will attend one of the preparatory meetings for the June Summit in Mexico, and Anglicans will also be present in other preparatory meetings in the United States and Spain.
And the Anglican Alliance will also be following up the G20 discussions on disaster risk management which will be looking at ways to develop more effective national strategies for preparation for natural disasters, and mitigation of their impact. Food security, which is on the Mexican agenda, is also a priority issue for the Alliance.
An Anglican paper on sustainable development has also been posted on the official website of the G20 Mexico. It was written by Revd Canon Dr. Jeff Golliher, who is based at the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations.
The G20 is the international forum that gathers the world’s biggest economies, with 19 individual countries and the European Union. This year Mexico holds the annual Presidency of the G20 and the summit will take place on the 18th and 19th of June in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur. Although, the G20 has always focussed on economic issues, it has developed a wider agenda, and the priorities for Mexico’s presidency are:
- Economic stabilisation and structural reforms as foundations for growth and employment.
- Strengthening the financial system and fostering financial inclusion to promote economic growth.
- Improving the international financial architecture.
- Enhancing food security and addressing commodity price volatility.
- Promoting sustainable development, green growth and the fight against climate change.
Within this last priority, Mexico has included “Disaster Risk Management” as a topic for discussion. This is a significant opportunity to keep pressing for more efforts to respond adequately to the increasing frequency of disasters and to work towards more efficient disaster risk reduction strategies.
The Anglican Alliance is coordinating the Anglican participation in the events for civil society organisations arranged by the Mexican government, and will closely follow developments on disaster risk management and food security.