[Ip-health] Guardian: US blocks drive for increase in int'l aid

[Paul Davis]

From: "David Bryden" <jdbryden@earthlink.net>

US blocks Brown-led drive for increase in aid

Charlotte Denny, economics correspondent
Wednesday January 23, 2002
The Guardian

The US government is blocking an international drive led by Britain to
increase aid for the world's poorest countries in the wake of last year's
terrorist attacks.

With less than two months to go before a crucial UN summit on global povert=
y
in Monterrey, Mexico, US officials are trying to neuter the draft
declaration which calls for rich countries to raise the amount they spend o=
n
helping the 2.8bn people who live on less than $2 a day.

The conference, which is strongly backed by the chancellor, Gordon Brown,
has been called to discuss ways of helping poor countries reduce poverty,
cut infant mortality and provide universal primary education. But the US is
seeking to delete any mention of the internationally agreed development
goals and of the suggestion that rich countries should meet the UN target o=
f
spending 0.7% of national income on aid.

Washington is already one of the least generous donors - despite being the
world's largest economy - devoting just 0.1% of national output to its
international aid effort.

Britain and other, more generous donors, had hoped that the renewed US
interest in multilateral action during the war on Afghanistan would help
bring about a change of heart regarding aid within the Bush adminstration.

In a speech in Washington last December, Gordon Brown called on the world's
richest countries to double their spending on aid as part of a global
"Marshall plan" for reconstructing not only Afghanistan but the entire
developing world.

Without a sharp rise in aid budgets, Mr Brown fears the world will fail to
meet international goals by 2015.

Some campaigners hoped that this signalled a willingness by western
governments to consider radical new measures for raising revenue such as a
Tobin tax on foreign exchange transactions or a global carbon tax.

But these have been vetoed by the US - even before the latest attempts to
water down the draft communiqu=E9.

Aid agencies attending preparations in New York this week for the Monterrey
summit report that American officials have described the 0.7% target as an
"outdated concept", and that they are pressing for it to be dropped from th=
e
final declaration.

The American attitude has provoked disquiet among fellow donor countries an=
d
outrage among the development charities.

"It seems the US will only tolerate multilateralism =E0 la carte, and
development, global redistribution and the interests of the poor are now of=
f
the menu," said Henry Northover, a policy adviser at Cafod, the Catholic ai=
d
agency.

Instead of discussing increased aid budgets, Washington wants the conferenc=
e
to focus on how poor countries can improve their own economic performance
through further market liberalisation.

The US treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, is sceptical about the
effectiveness of international aid efforts, arguing that the money donated
is wasted by corrupt and ineffective governments.

In Tokyo this week at an international conference on rebuilding Afghanistan=
,
Mr O'Neill warned that support for the interim Afghan government would be
withdrawn if donors discovered the money had been misused.

The aid agencies say a proposed campaign to raise public awareness of the
targets, led by the UN development programme, is opposed by the US - which
believes it amounts to an infringement of national sovereignty.





------ End of Forwarded Message