U.N. taps ex-French minister in anti-poverty drive

from All Africa

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Tuesday as a special adviser on raising non-governmental money for U.N. anti-poverty goals.

The U.N. Millennium Development Goals aim to halve poverty around the world by 2015, but the world body says development aid from governments is not enough to achieve them and most of the targets are behind schedule.

Douste-Blazy, foreign minister from 2005-07, specialized in alternative funding after being named last year to head UNITAID, a body hosted by the World Health Organization to buy drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in poor countries. It is funded mainly from a levy on airline tickets.

"We want to organize little by little a worldwide citizen movement, with citizens, with private companies, besides states, to set up innovative financing," Douste-Blazy told a news conference after his appointment was announced.

He said he would organize a world conference on the issue in 2009. U.N. officials said it would focus on development financing from individuals, local authorities, foundations, non-governmental organizations, faith groups and companies.

Douste-Blazy said one of his priorities would be the "traceability" of money -- ensuring that donors knew where their funding went.

Douste-Blazy, 55, was trained in medicine before going into politics. He will have the U.N. title of Special Adviser on Innovative Financing for Development with the rank of under-secretary-general and a nominal salary of $1 per year. (Reporting by Patrick Worsnip)