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 The UK and EU are keeping the poorer nations exactly where they want them: beholden to their patrons
Rejoice! The world is saved! The governments of Europe have agreed that by 2015 they will give 0.7% of their national income in foreign aid. Admittedly, that's 35 years after the target date they first set for themselves, and it's still less than they extract from the poor in debt repayments. But hooray anyway. Though he does not become president of the EU until later this year, Tony Blair can take some of the credit, for his insistence that the G8 summit in July makes poverty history. It's inspiring, until you understand the context.
Everyone who has studied global poverty - including European governments - recognises that aid cannot compensate for unfair terms of trade. If they increased their share of world exports by 5%, developing countries would earn an extra $350bn a year, three times more than they will be given in 2015. Any government that wanted to help developing nations would surely make the terms of trade between rich and poor its priority.
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 The world's most developed nations have reaffirmed the need to provide debt relief to poor countries. After talks in Washington, the G7 finance ministers said they were prepared to offer up to 100% relief on a case-by-case basis.
But they failed to announce any concrete measures on how to do it.
Development lobby groups criticised the G7 for "yet another missed opportunity" to deliver the debt cancellation they promised in London in February.
The finance ministers' joint statement came after talks hosted by US Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Ministers and their central bank governors said high oil prices were hampering economic growth, but the outlook for 2005 pointed to "solid growth".
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February 2006, Jeffrey D Sachs, The Guardian (UK)
The fight against extreme poverty can be won, but only if Bush recognises that military might alone won't secure the world The end of poverty is a choice, not a forecast. There are a billion people on earth fighting daily for their survival. The world has committed, in the Millennium Development Goals, to cut extreme poverty by half by 2015. By 2025, extreme poverty can be banished. By dint of interest and calendar, the next step rests with Downing Street. |
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February 2006, The Guardian (UK) Jeffrey Sachs, a prominent US economist and a special adviser to the UN secretary general, argues in a new book that extreme poverty could be eradicated by 2025. In The End of Poverty, he says much will depend on the choices made by Americans, who are paying a far smaller share of their income in foreign aid than they promised three years ago, and only a 30th of the "nearly $500bn [£260bn] the US will spend this year on the military". |
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 Will debt relief make a difference?
By Orla Ryan, BBC News business reporter The world's richest countries are getting ready to grant a debt moratorium to countries affected by the tsunami. But critics question whether the proposals - to freeze payments for a year or more - go far enough. Some argue that the debt should be cancelled, not just temporarily suspended. Others say the debt moratorium is ill-conceived, designed to reflect well on the world's richest countries while achieving little for the world's poorest. |
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January 4, 2005, Paul Brown, The Guardian UN conference hears how small states are struggling with rising seas, pollution and cuts in foreign assistance. Aid to 45 small island states, home to the people most vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters, has fallen by more than half in eight years, a UN conference will be told today. |
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 Concern at plans to alter OECD aid terms
Charities and aid campaigners are sounding the alarm about a move by some of the world's rich countries to redefine spending on peacekeeping missions as development aid and thereby duck a pledge to increase aid commitments. Senior officials from members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development met in Paris at the end of last week for discussions about how to define overseas aid spending for purposes of international comparison. Some countries, believed to be Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, argue that spending on peacekeeping operations or training of foreign armies should be allowed to be counted as aid spending. |
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