[Australia] G20 'failed to tackle poverty'

from Yahoo News

A charity group led by Federal Treasurer Peter Costello's brother, Reverend Tim Costello, says the G20 economic summit has missed an opportunity to address security and environmental issues by failing to tackle poverty.

Make Poverty History says it wanted the delegates at the summit to provide a clear timetable on how they would deliver aid promises made at the G8 summit in Scotland last year.

Treasurer Peter Costello says the summit has covered a range of topics and has been very successful.

He says G20 delegates have agreed there should be higher levels of investment in the energy sector and the International Monetary Fund should be reformed, so it better represents large Asian countries.

But Make Poverty History co-chair Reverend Tim Costello says the G20 forum could have addressed climate change and terrorism by increasing aid.

"There is simply no way we can win the war on terror or the war against global warming if we don't deal with poverty because the poor will go on cutting down forests, including rainforests," he said.

"The siren songs of Osama bin Laden will recruit desperate poor people as suicide bombers."