Rome, 26 January 2017 – The
world needs to take urgent action to mobilise the estimated US$265
billion a year needed to achieve the first two Sustainable Development
Goals to end poverty and hunger by 2030, said Kanayo F. Nwanze,
President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
at last night’s opening of a conference focused on finding innovative
ways to finance rural development.
“We must be more
creative in how we use public resources and how we mobilise financing,”
said Nwanze at the event held at the Italian Ministry of Economy and
Finance. He added that we need to make it easier for the private sector
and philanthropists to invest in rural areas - the places where rates of
poverty and hunger are highest.
Pier Carlo Padoan,
Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, stressed the importance of
ensuring all rural people can access financial services so that they can
invest in their own development. The majority of rural people work on
small farms and it is estimated that there is a $150 billion gap between
the financing they need and what is currently available.
