Rio de Janeiro – Sudanese and Algerian representatives expressed their support to the proposals laid out by the G77 countries at Rio+20’s high-level meeting, which opened this Wednesday (20th) in Rio de Janeiro. Officials from Sudan and Algeria stated that they need financing to put sustainable projects to work. They also spoke in favour of a ruling from the Rio Earth Summit 1992, held over 20 years ago, which provides that rich countries are to make more concessions that emerging ones in the quest for sustainable development.
The Sudanese vice president, Al-Haj Adam Youssef, stated that his country supports the G77’s proposals, such as establishing a fund to finance sustainable projects, and obliging rich countries to follow stricter rules than poor ones.
“Sudan is working hard [to develop sustainable projects], but much hard work is required to invest in technical training as well. A feeble cooperation results in slow process, we must make serious commitments,” he said. Youssef said Sudan invests in clean energy generation and in producing fuels such as ethanol. In the latter case, the country’s leading partner is Brazil.
The president of Algeria’s Council of the Nation, Abdelsalah Bensaleh, stated that international commitment must be increased in order to minimize the gap between rich from poor countries in sustainable development projects.
“There has been a backward motion in terms of complementarity since the Rio Earth Summit 1992. Economic and food crises have made the situation worse. We support the previous conferences. We believe that the green economy aids development, so long as there are no trade barriers and that methods are provided [to attaining the green economy] such as debt rescheduling. We also need proper technology,” he said.
He also said Algeria is investing in clean energies as an alternative to oil. One of the country’s targets is to produce 40% of its energy from non-pollutant sources, especially the sun, by 2030.
Evolving slowly
At the opening of the high-level meeting, shortly before the representatives of Sudan, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Zimbabwe and Maldives expressed their views at Rio+20, the United Nations’ secretary general Ban Ki-moon stated that little progress made since Eco92, considering the challenges at hand. “I am eager to see a productive conference. Once again, Brazil is staging a world-changing event. However, since 1992, progress toward sustainable development has been too slow. We are now in sight of a historic agreement,” he said.
The president of Brazil and of the Rio+20, Dilma Rousseff, stated that the event’s discussions will be “on par with the challenge that the world situation poses to us.”
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
