[UK] 'Progress' in fight against poverty

From The Scotsman

Chancellor Gordon Brown said that real progress was being made in the fight to tackle poverty and disease in Africa.

Mr Brown dismissed claims that the G-8 group of industrialised nations was not delivering on promises made at the Gleneagles summit in July.
But he admitted there had been a failure over trade.

"We have got debt relief, it is 100 percent debt relief for the first batch of countries, it can go through to 38 countries, we want it to be 68 countries. But 170 billion dollars of debt have been written off -- this has never before happened in the history of the world."

Mr Brown pointed out that aid to Africa had increased dramatically since Gleneagles.

"We have got 15 countries to agree that they will move to 0.7 percent (of gross domestic product) on aid, so we have got a doubling of aid for Africa, we have got an education plan that is coming down the road which is primary schooling for every child by 2015 -- 110 million children who don't get education now," he said.

He said the failure over trade was not due to a lack of political will. A "new momentum" was needed for the World Trade Organisation talks, he said.

There was a general understanding that the deadlock had to be broken, he added, and called for the US and Europe to take the lead with a new proposal. He said it would need "the highest form of political leadership."

Brown also praised the 600 million dollar boost Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates gave to the Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis. The campaign aims to treat 50 million people in the next 10 years.

Mr Brown said he hoped that in the next few years polio and tuberculosis would be eliminated and the world will be moving toward wiping out malaria and finding a cure for HIV/AIDS.