Blair offers Africa pain relief from debt and ‘unfair’ trade

By David Cronin

Date: 10/03/05

Tony Blair is to seek a major aid boost for Africa, a cancellation of debts owed to the World Bank and a drastic cut in EU subsidies for sugar and cotton when he publishes proposals on African development tomorrow (11 March).

The British government has decided to make Africa and climate change the two principal themes of its stints heading both the EU and the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries this year.

As part of those efforts, Blair is to announce the findings of the 17-member Commission for Africa, which he chaired. The report urges rich countries to:

• Rally behind a British proposal for an 'international finance facility', under which aid pledges would be used as collateral for bonds on the capital markets, with the resulting money used to double development assistance;
• increase funding for health systems in Africa by €7.5 billion next year and provide the €2.4bn for work planned by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria;
• immediately scrap all "trade-distorting" subsidies for cotton and sugar, as these endanger the livelihoods of small African growers; and,
• finance the cancellation of all debts owed to multilateral bodies like the World Bank, diverting the savings into health and education.

The report describes corruption as a "systemic problem affecting many African countries". Civil wars are recognised as a barrier to progress too, with donors called on to provide half the budget - €150 million in 2004-07 - of the African Union's peacekeeping fund.

A source involved in the Commission for Africa said it was trying to find common ground between those who believed greater assistance should go to conflict prevention and resolution in Africa and those who felt the bulk of aid should be for health and education. "Unless we address conflict and security issues we will not get very far," the source added. "But we also have to address the root cause of conflict - the lack of economic growth and lack of development."

The report is to argue that rich countries meet the target set by the UN in 1970 to devote at least 0.7% of their gross domestic production to development aid. So far Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are the only EU states to have exceeded that goal.

Dave Timms from the World Development Movement said that the report may contain little fresh thinking. He noted that a previous commission chaired by late German chancellor Willy Brandt recommended in 1980 that all rich countries should reach the 0.7% goal by 1985 and a 1% goal by 2000. "There seems to be a ratcheting down of ambitions," said Timms.

Tony Blair was to seek a major aid boost for Africa, a cancellation of debts owed to the World Bank and a drastic cut in EU subsidies for sugar and cotton when he published proposals on African development on 11 March 2005.

The British government had decided to make Africa and climate change the two principal themes of its stints heading both the EU and the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries in 2005. As part of those efforts, Blair was to announce the findings of the 17-member Commission for Africa, which he chaired.

United Kingdom: Prime Minister's Office: Newsroom: Commission for Africa Report http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page7310.asp

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