Ban applauds Brazilian efforts to curb poverty and inequality

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with the Brazilian Foreign Minister today, discussing poverty, climate change and efforts to boost cooperation among the world’s poorer nations.

In their meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Ban and Celso Luis Nunes Amorim also discussed Brazil’s support for UN peacekeeping operations, especially MINUSTAH in Haiti, and to peacebuilding missions, such as in Guinea-Bissau.

Mr. Ban congratulated Mr. Amorim on Brazil’s progress in reducing poverty and inequality, and for its role in the G20 bloc of major developed and developing economies and its contributions to so-called South-South cooperation among developing nations.

The Secretary-General also noted Brazil’s leadership on climate change and on efforts to attain the social and economic targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to information released by a spokesperson for Mr. Ban.