Brasília, February 17, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - In a speech presented to the 5th Annual Conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank, held in the French Senate, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the challenge of the twenty-first century is to make the fight against extreme poverty the engine of growth, not merely a consequence. The declaration was made yesterday (16) by videoconference.

The President affirmed that inequality is always measured by economic standards, but political decisions are necessary to overcome them. In his view, hunger and extreme poverty are not inalterable or uncurable situations. "We believe that financial resources to combat them can be obtained, once the requisite political will is mustered," he considers.

In his address the President remarked that up to now globalization has not brought the "promised convergence of riches."

The President concluded by asking that a bridge be constructed between the poor and rich worlds. "The social deficit of poor and developing countries demands the participation of all of you. This is the only way that the fight against exclusion will create opportunites instead of dependency," he affirmed. (DAS)