Spain pledges a billion euros in food aid

One more item to report from the food security summit that recently concluded in Spain.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero says his country will provide 1 billion euros over the next five years to boost food security thought the world. This will help Spain meet the goal of 0.7% of the countries gross domestic product being used for poverty fighting aid.

We love the quotes that Prime Minister Zapatero made in announcing the pledge, Spanish newspaper Easy Bourse has the quotes.

"A total of EUR1 billion will go during this period towards the nations which are the most vulnerable and most affected by the global food security crisis," he added at the end of a two-day conference on food security.

The funding is part of Spain's aim to raise the amount of development aid it provides to 0.7% of its GDP by 2012, despite facing its sharpest economic contraction in decades amid the global financial crisis, he said.

"The crisis here will be temporary. In countries lashed by hunger and extreme poverty, the crisis, the more radical crisis which puts at risk that which is most needed, is a form of life, a life of subsistence," Zapatero said.

Spain will also push for the creation of a new global partnership to better co-ordinate the fight against hunger that will be made up of donor nations, aid agencies, food producers and unions, and will be headed by the U.N., he said.

Ban said the food crisis had brought the total number of hungry people in the world to "an intolerable 1 billion" and he warned the situation could get worse unless more is done to tackle the problem.
...

While food prices have since dropped, they remain volatile.
The world's richest nations agreed to provide 0.7% of their output in development aid by 2015 as part of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, a series of targets aimed at reducing poverty and living standards around the globe, but so far only a handful have met this target.

UN summit on food security closes

The United Nations food security summit in Madrid has drawn to a close. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon finished the summit with a speech that asked the world to do more to help the hungry.

Instead of focusing on the Secretary General's comments, our snippet from the BBC story includes reaction from the civic world on the summit. Also, it includes a remark that Jeffrey Sachs made at the conference. David Loyn of the BBC filed this story on the close of the summit.

The most dramatic intervention at the conference was from the UN poverty adviser Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who said that when the finance minister of Kenya phoned him to ask for $80m (£57m) to help Kenya's farmers this year he said "spend the money" in the faith that it would be covered by the World Bank.

This prioritisation of food and hunger is quite new, and has been welcomed by campaign groups like the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), who have recently mobilised millions of people for their cause.

But the co-chair of the movement, Sylvia Borren, said that the international response in Madrid is still lacking urgency.

"It is a consultation and coalition-forming process, but if you look at the plans it will be another year before it gets off the paper, out of the talks into real action.

"What we are concerned about are people who are starving today - women who say to us 'I have to choose which child to feed'."
...
The amounts of money now being talked about are large - $5bn extra for food aid, and $10bn extra on helping farmers in Africa plant more productive crops.

But they are dwarfed by the trillions now committed to saving the banking system in the developed world.

World must double food production by 2050 says the FAO

The meeting in Spain on world hunger has begun. The headlines of the first day belong to the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. Jacques Diouf claims that mass starvation will begin if the world doesn't double food production by 2050.

Many leaders attending the meeting are lamenting the fact the food insecurity is not a priority. Other issues such as AIDS or climate change have taken precedence.

The new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not present at the meetings, but gave a speech to the conference that she recorded in Washington DC.

The AFP has more on Diouf's comments at the world hunger conference.

The food crisis pushed another 40 million people into hunger in 2008, Jacques Diouf said here at the start of a two-day international conference on food security.

That brought the global number of undernourished people to 973 million last year out of a total population of around 6.5 billion, he said.

"We face the challenge now of not only ensuring food for the 973 million who are currently hungry, but also ensuring there is food for nine billion people in 2050. We will need to double global food production by 2050," he said.

But Diouf warned the global economic crisis was already undermining efforts to tackle food insecurity as it was making it harder for farmers to get loans to buy materials and new equipment that would boost yields.

"The current economic situation does not make our task easier," he said.

The fall in prices for certain food staples from last year's highs could also discourage farmers from sowing crops, adding to the difficulty in meeting FAO's goal to halve the number of people who live in hunger by 2015, he said.

The food price crisis of 2008, what to do next?

The United Nations high level task force on the food crisis is about to have another meeting. UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon and Spain's prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will host the meeting in Madrid on January 26th.

An article on IRIN breaks down the issues that surround the meeting.

As food inflation shot to almost 60 percent in Ethiopia in 2008, the beneficiaries of a safety net programme offering cash to build resilience to face shocks opted for food.

The rising prices "may have reduced the hoped-for long-term impacts of the programme [to help people become more resilient and break the cycle of dependence on food aid]" said John Hoddinott, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The global food price crisis that led to nearly a billion malnourished people in 2008 is not over, said David Nabarro, coordinator of the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis. "Food systems in many countries are not working for poor people."

The economic slowdown has exacerbated the situation. "It means both developed and developing countries have even less funds to invest in social protection programmes to help people become more resilient [and prevent them falling into the poverty trap]."

In its most recent report the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the food price crisis had pushed another 40 million into hunger in 2008, bringing the global number of undernourished people closer to a billion.

Food is not going to get cheaper soon; prices of major cereals have fallen by over 50 percent from their peak earlier in 2008 but are still high compared to previous years, said FAO's State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008.

The purchasing power of cash transfers in Ethiopia had been steadily eroded by escalating food prices since the beginning of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) in 2005, and then spiked in 2008, according to a new joint crop and food security assessment report by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP). The number of PSNP participants opting for cash transfers dropped from 74 percent in 2005 to 48 percent in 2008.

Some Retailers Have Still Not Caught Up With Fair Trade Boom

from All Africa

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)

By Teresa Robins
Seville

Fair trade has grown in leaps and bounds since the mid-1990s but retailers such as El Corte Ingles, the department store chain with the most sales in Europe, are still not giving consumers the choice to buy these products.

In 1996 the Spanish parliament introduced an initiative to encourage fair trade products, with regional governments introducing similar resolutions across Spain. The government became a consumer of fair trade products and encouraged local businesses and private and public organisations to follow suit.

Some interest groups have also worked to promote and regulate fair trade. Of these, InterMon Oxfam is a major importer of fair trade goods and has committed itself to promoting African goods, sold under their own "InterMon Oxfam Comercio Justo" (fair trade) label.

In 1997, the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations (FLO) International was set up to establish clear minimum criteria for importing fair trade goods from developing countries. It also set out to oversee standards to make sure these goods were traded at a fair price in the developed countries and were produced under ethical working conditions.

FLO sets a minimum price so producers are able to recover their costs. It also inspects and certifies the terms and conditions under which these small producers work and helps to provide support towards achieving economic self-sufficiency and improving their lives.

FLO has a wide variety of partner organisations involved in charitable, relief and development aid, including international religious, social and economic groups. Their work is divided into two parts to ensure impartiality and independence in its certification process.

The Spanish member of FLO, the Asociación del Sello de Productos de Comercio Justo (ASPCJ) (the Association of Fairtrade Label Products), was established in 2005. InterMon Oxfam is one of the founding members of Spain's ASPCJ.

ASPCJ's two main objectives are the licensing of the FLO certification mark in Spain and raising awareness to help boost sales of fair trade products. The ASPCJ confirms that licensed companies selling products under the "Comercio Justo" label have been examined to ensure they fulfil all the requirements.

InterMon Oxfam's puts the value of fair trade sales in Spain at 7,7 million euros for the year ending June 2007. Fernando Contreras Almela, head of fair trade marketing at InterMon Oxfam, says that 31 percent, or 2,4 million euros, of the sales are for goods from Africa. This is up from 25 percent in previous years.

Its fair trade goods are imported from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Mauritius, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

"The volume of imports is complicated to calculate, as products such as handicrafts, food and so forth are valued in different currencies and with variable timescales. However, the net average margin is approximately 50 percent, from which costs and overheads are paid. If there is any profit, InterMon Oxfam reinvests this in the producers," according to Contreras Almela.

The following commodities are imported from Africa: batik from Burkina Faso and Uganda; wooden products from Cameroon and Kenya; soapstone carvings and tea from Kenya; cocoa from Ghana; sugar from Mauritius; and coffee from Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. These products arrive in Spain via some 30 African co-operatives serving hundreds of small producers.

Oxfam Intermon regards Africa as a priority, which is why the percentage of goods sourced from Africa has increased. However, growth is difficult to achieve in Africa, says Contreras Almela.

African goods have been much slower in getting a foothold in the Spanish market but there have been significant signs of improvement. However, Contreras Almela told IPS that, "working with African producers is not easy. This is due to the lack of every type of infrastructure you can think of."

African producers are affected by numerous problems at the time of exporting. The most important of these are, according to Intermon Oxfam: high costs, as in many cases the merchandise must travel by air instead of sea, to ensure reasonable transit times and to maintain the quality of the products.

Second, lack of access to information about European markets, with the consequent lack of suitable adjustment between the designs and needs of the consumers and the supply of products.

Third, difficulty in communication. Fourth, problems of access to banking services such as credit. Fifth, difficulty in fulfilling the timescales established for importing the merchandise to ensure it is available for the important times of the year, such as Christmas.

Among retail outlets in Spain stocking fair trade products are the larger supermarket chains, such as Grupo Alcampo, Carrefour, Consum and Eroski. They all have special agreements with InterMon Oxfam to stock and promote these goods as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.

The retailer Grupo Alcampo holds special promotional events called "quincedías", or "fifteen days", and have staff awareness events to ensure they can talk to customers about fair trade products and their origins.

One noticeable absence among these names is that of El Corte Ingles, Spain's largest department store group, having taken over the Galerias Group in 1995 which was its main competitor.

El Corte Ingles has large department stores in practically every major town or city, huge hypermarkets and supermarkets and 24-hour, seven-days-a-week shops across the whole of Spain.

On Sept 1, El Corte Ingles announced their annual profits, which showed an increase of 4,7 percent on the previous year, achieving annual sales for the group of 17,898 million euros. In Europe, this puts El Corte Ingles in first place among retailers, well ahead of UK company Marks & Spencer (which supports fair trade products) with its sales of 13,268 million euros.

In the third place is France's Groupe Galeries Lafayette with sales of 4,960 million euros. Worldwide, El Corte Ingles achieved third place in world ranking for the retail sector, behind U.S. companies Sears Holdings (37,010 million euros) and Macy's Group (19,207 million euros).

When asked about the absence of fair trade goods at El Corte Ingles's retail outlets, Diego Copado, director of communication and institutional relations, confirmed that the company had been "in discussions with InterMon Oxfam over some years but had been unable to reach agreement".

He added that, after the announcement of increased profits, El Corte Ingles had also launched its new corporate website which included a section on social responsibility. It is, he said, part of a continuing effort on behalf of El Corte Ingles, which include looking at fair trade.

So remember, if you want to be sure that what you are buying is a fair trade product and that your money is going exactly where you want it to go, check the label thoroughly.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Spanish PM appeals for aid to Africa after 15 migrants die at sea

from the AFP via Google



MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged wealthy nations Thursday to respect their pledges to help fight poverty in Africa after at least 15 migrants, including nine children, died at sea while trying to reach Spain.

"We are in an alarming situation. Either we help Africa to fight against extreme poverty, or our state of solidarity, our social state, will be in danger," he said in Athens where he is on an official visit.

He described the deaths as "an intolerable tragedy" and called on developing countries to "assume their responsibilities" by contributing to development aid and guaranteeing that the global food crisis does not worsen world hunger.

Rescue teams intercepted overnight a small crowded boat with 33 migrants and the body of a woman on board some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Almeria, a local police spokesman told AFP.

The bodies of the at least 14 others who died of hunger, thirst or exposure during the crossing, including nine children between the ages of one and four, "had been thrown overboard by their travelling companions," he said.

The survivors, who public radio RNE said included three pregnant women and a baby, were all severely weakened after their journey.

It was the second such incident in a week.

Fourteen migrants from Nigeria went missing and are feared dead after their boat capsized on Monday off the southern coast of the southern Spanish town of Motril just as it was being aided by a rescue ship which managed to save 23 others.

"As long as people are desperate and cannot feed their children they will try to reach Europe," Zapatero said, adding his socialist government would fulfill a pledge to boost development aid despite an economic slowdown.

"It is unacceptable that as extreme poverty increases we see development aid fall ... the West has the resources and the capacity to help extreme poverty disappear," he said.

In September 2007 Zapatero promised to raise the amount of development aid which Spain gives out from the equivalent of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product to 0.7 percent by 2012.

His government in January approved 5.5 billion euros (8.6 billion dollars) in international development aid for 2008, a 28.5 percent increase over last year and its highest-ever amount.

The world's richest nations agreed to provide 0.7 percent of their output in development aid by 2015 as part of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, a series of targets aimed at reducing poverty and living standards around the globe.

Only five nations have do far met or surpassed the target: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

A total of 921 would-be illegal immigrants died at sea trying to reach Spain in 2007, according to a tally by the Organisation for Human Rights in Andalusia (APDH-A), a Spanish humanitarian group.

Of these, 732 perished close to the Atlantic coast of north Africa at the start of their journey and 189 near the coasts of Spain, it said.

The majority, 629, were from sub-Saharan Africa, 287 were from north Africa and five were Asians.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Africa: Major Increase in Aid From Spain

from All Africa

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)

By Tito Drago
Madrid

Spain's development aid to Africa has increased significantly since socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero took office in March 2004.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the African World Heritage Fund has signed a memorandum of understanding that includes one million euros (1.5 million dollars) in aid, making Spain the second largest donor to the Fund after South Africa.

The head of the Spanish Development Cooperation Agency (AECID), Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, told IPS that his country "has adopted an integrated aid policy," developed from scratch since 2004. Before then, international aid was lower in quantity and quality, "and was even at the service of interests that were not confined to the fight against hunger and poverty."

Its global aid policy is to help countries meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the United Nations in the year 2000 with a deadline of 2015, and to achieve sustainable development. Within this approach Spain had "the aim of widening the geographical horizon, so we have incorporated Africa," he said.

"Overall official development aid has doubled in the past four years, but aid channelled to fighting hunger and poverty and promoting development in Africa has increased threefold," he said. AECID alone increased its aid to the region from 90 million euros (138 million dollars) in 2004 to over 400 million euros (612 million dollars) in 2007.

In 2004, AECID had four offices in Africa. Now it has branches operating in Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia.

De Laiglesia said that Spain "not only contributes by donating funds, but also by establishing an institutional presence, and collaborating in the planning process to tackle the different countries' development priorities."

Other European countries, such as France, Germany, Belgium and Portugal, have a greater institutional presence in Africa than Spain, as they were formerly colonial powers there.

That is why, these days, Spain's presence is perceived to be more neutral and friendly, and "aligned with the countries we cooperate with," de Laiglesia said.

The memorandum of understanding was signed Monday by de Laiglesia for AECID and Weber Ndoro, the executive director of the African World Heritage Fund, which was launched in 2006 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre to receive contributions towards the preservation of Africa's natural and cultural heritage.

Africa's rich heritage is neglected. As Ndoro said after the signing ceremony, only 65 out of the nearly 800 sites on the World Heritage List are in Africa, and 43 percent of them are on UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger list.

The memorandum specifies that Spain's contribution will be used specifically towards protection of the African heritage sites and the economic development generated by them, especially in terms of boosting their positive impact on tourism, the economy, and the educational and cultural level of the countries involved.

Is cooperating with Africa different from cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean? IPS asked de Laiglesia.

Yes, he said, because "we share a language with most Latin American countries, and a sister language (Portuguese) with the largest nation, Brazil, which makes the work of Spanish cooperation agents much easier."

In contrast, "Africa is a partner we must get to know and explore, and, as with other regions, respect the priorities it identifies in deciding how to spend the resources we contribute to promote sustainable development."

Is the language difference the main difficulty to overcome?

"No, more important than the languages in Africa is the lack of social structure, the absence of strong state institutions, and the weak capacity to implement public policies and provide significant services to citizens. These, rather than sharing a language or not, are the elements that set limits on our actions."

So would you say that strengthening states is one of your goals? De Laiglesia replied, "yes, of course, empowering the state is a goal that is constantly present in all of our activities, because there can be no sustainable development without public policies and institutional capability arising from the strength of the state."

That is why, he added, "good governance is always on the agenda in our projects. Along with the basic issues, there is always a governance component included in our actions."

'Tourism against poverty' spotlighted at Madrid trade fair

from AFP via Google

MADRID (AFP) — Spain's King Juan Carlos Wednesday opened the FITUR tourist trade fair, one of the world's largest, with a plea to thousands of industry professionals to use tourism to help eradicate poverty.

"Tourism is a driver of understanding between peoples. It is an effective instrument with which to eradicate poverty and to improve the legitimate aspirations and well-being of citizens," he said in an inaugural speech.

The 28th annual FITUR in Madrid is hosting 13,300 companies from 170 countries who will be seeking the business of around 250,000 visitors, some 150,000 of them professionals, before the event closes on Sunday.

The UN World Tourism Organisation prefaced the event on Tuesday by announcing that developing nations drove up global tourism arrivals by 6.2 percent last year to a record of almost 900 million.

UNWTO Secretary General Francesco Frangialli said the figures demonstrated "tourism's potential for the developing world."

The head of the African Travel and Tourism Association, Nigel Vere Nicoll, underscored this.

"Every 10 tourists to Africa creates one job, and one job feeds about 10 people," he told AFP Wednesday.

New participants at FITUR this year are Bhutan, Greenland, Madagascar and the west African archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe. Azerbaijan, Zimbabwe and Niger have returned for a second year.

Exhibitors from the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas and Africa are up by 18, 17 and 14 percent respectively, reflecting "the growth of the international dimension of the fair," FITUR said.

The head of Bhutan's tourism department, Lhatu Wangchuk, said the isolated Himalayan kingdom decided to make its debut at the fair after developing its tourist infrastructure.

"We are here because our capacity to receive more tourists is improving, so we need to get into promotion, but in a subdued way," he told AFP.

"Foreign exchange revenue and employment are important to us," he said, adding that tourism is currently the country's fourth biggest earner, but is expected to be the second within five years.

"We are looking for tourists at the high-end of the market in Europe, the US and Japan," he said.

Spain has the largest number of exhibitors, and this year will be promoting the Expo Zaragosa 2008 international exhibition. South Africa is focusing on its staging of the 2010 football World Cup.

Among the special promotions are the New Seven Wonders of the World: the city of Petra in Jordan, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India, the Coliseum in Rome, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Macchu Pichu in Peru and the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil.

FITUR "is a trade fair which for the past three decades has reflected the realities of the industry, has been a step ahead of the changes and has brought about innovative responses," Juan Carlos said.

IIAFD, Spain sign pact to jointly combat rural poverty

from the Hindu

New York (PTI): International Fund for Agricultural Development (IAFD) and Spain have signed a six-year agreement to work jointly to combat rural poverty in the developing countries.

The two share the understanding that the best way to eliminate poverty is to empower the poor by expanding their rights, opportunities and abilities so that they can find their own way of development, both the sides said after signing the agreement.

The agreement was signed by Lennart Bage, President of IFAD, and Spain's Ambassador to Rome Luis Calvo Merino.
,span class="fullpost">
"IFAD shares many development priorities with Spain," said Bage.

"By strengthening our relationship, we will be able to work even more effectively together to empower poor rural people to overcome poverty," Bage said.

IFAD and Spain will meet every two years to ensure their work remains focused on their shared development goals, as outlined in IFAD's Strategic Framework and Spain's Master Plan for Development Cooperation.

The partners said they are committed to good governance, public participation and strengthening local community and small farmers' organisations and developing and promoting rural finance systems and small rural enterprises.

They will also work for combating desertification and land degradation as also gender equity and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Spain, which has long been a leader in development efforts in Latin America, has recently expanded its geographic focus to include Northern and Western Africa, where IFAD also funds programmes and projects.

Rock Stars Collect 600,000 Signatures for Fair Trade With Africa

from All Africa

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)

NEWS

By Tito Drago
Madrid

Several popular Spanish rock groups helped collect 600,000 signatures and delivered them to the government Tuesday in support of an international campaign calling for the Spanish government to modify its trade policy towards Africa and eliminate restrictions on imports from that region.

Singers Miguel Bosé and Shuarma, members of the Dover rock band, and Ariana Arpa, the head of Intermón Oxfam - Oxfam International's Spanish affiliate - were received in the seat of government where they presented a statement titled: "100 Days: Trade Negotiations Threaten Europe's Commitment to Africa".

Because Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, they were met by the government's top spokesman, José Moraleda, and cabinet chief José Enrique Serrano.

The majority of the signatures came from people attending the concerts of Bosé, Shuarma, Dover, Amaral, a pop/rock duo, and the La Oreja de Van Gogh pop/rock band this year as part of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign (known as "Comercio con Justicia" in Spain).

The statement urges Zapatero's socialist government to reconsider its position with respect to the negotiations between the European Union and 78 former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) on the Cotonou Agreement that was signed in 2000 in the capital of Benin and expires on Dec. 31. (Cuba is the 79th member, but it joined after the Agreement was adopted).

The Cotonou Agreement establishes trade conditions between the ACP and the EU that are not overly favourable to developing nations.

But the European Commission (the EU executive) now wants ACP countries to sign market-opening deals known as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with it by the end of this year.

Arpa told IPS that in the entire history of Europe, there have never been more unequal trade negotiations than the ones currently underway, "in which the EU countries are negotiating as equals with a region that has the highest poverty rates in the world."

She added that "Spain is defending the most hard-line position which runs counter to the achievement of a coherent development policy for poor countries."

"Not one European politician would last a single day in their post if they tried to apply in their own countries the draconian deregulation that they are attempting to impose on the economies of the poorest countries on the planet," she said.

The document presented by Intermón Oxfam says that if the trade liberalisation that the EU is pressing for wins out in the negotiations, the ACP countries would have to eliminate most of their import tariffs on farm products, "while the EU dedicates about 50 billion euros (70 billion dollars) a year to subsidising its agricultural production and exports."

Carlos Galián, who coordinated the Intermón Oxfam report, said "the inflexibility of the Spanish government's position is surprising, given that this country's trade with the ACP is very insignificant."

Spain's exports to the ACP countries represent a mere 1.91 percent of the country's total exports, and its sales to the 78 ACP countries are equivalent to what it exports to the Netherlands alone.

Arpa said the European Commission, "with Spain's support," is threatening to impose conditions on the ACP that would lead to one billion euros (1.4 billion dollars) in annual losses for West Africa alone.

In other ACP regions the situation is similar. One example of what that means, said Arpa, is what would happen in Namibia if the EU gets its way in the negotiations. "In the first year alone, that country would lose some 45 million euros (63 million dollars), equivalent to nearly one-third of its annual health budget."

Another illustration is Kenya, where the dairy sector would be hit so hard that 650,000 families that depend on livestock raising would see their incomes drastically reduced, and around 400,000 direct jobs would be lost.

"The future of 750 million people living in poverty depends partly on the EU and the ACP reaching an agreement that puts trade at the service of development, and the solution is not to impose a system that could trigger an economic crisis in Africa, starting on Jan. 1, 2008," she said.

Bosé told IPS that "a right that is not contained in any constitution, but which is clear and real, must be upheld: doing what is fair, and if we're talking about justice, then we have to make trade fair."

The world-renowned singer acknowledged that the Spanish government dedicates a significant percentage of its budget to development aid, a proportion that has grown under the current administration. "But its position is not consistent; it's as if we were throwing that money into the garbage if the country's stance on trade is not modified," he argued.

That is why, he said, "we, the citizens, those who pay the taxes that feed the government budget, are demanding a position in foreign trade that is neither counterproductive nor negative to the development of the countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean."

"There are 100 days left to do that," before the Cotonou Agreement expires, he said, adding that in the negotiations, Spain should play a positive role in leading the EU towards a more progressive position.

One of the most harshly criticised stances taken by Spain is its protectionist tariffs that protect bananas from its own Canary Islands, located off the northwest coast of Africa.

Intermón Oxfam is calling for the elimination of that protection, to make it possible for producers from countries of the South to compete on an equal footing.

But sources with Spain's Ministry of Industry and Trade told IPS that the initiatives it is discussing do not include support for free trade in that sector.

Booming Economy Does Not Cut Poverty, Spain's Case Indicates

from Playfuls

For Nancy, a 60-year-old Cuban immigrant in Spain, eating at a restaurant is a rare treat, because she only goes when invited by friends who pay for her.

"I buy clothes only when absolutely necessary at cheap Chinese-run shops, postpone visits to the doctor, and haven't had the money to visit Cuba for years," she explains.

Earning slightly over 500 euros (647 dollars) a month for taking care of an old lady in the southern city of Jerez de la Frontera, Nancy can only pay her rent with the help of her daughter, who shares her small flat and earns little more than she does.

To someone living in a developing country, Nancy would not look poor, yet she forms part of the one-fifth of Spain's 45-million population whose economically precarious lives qualify them as poor.

Despite 14 years of continuous economic growth, the percentage of the poor has remained the same, and looks unlikely to go down.

"There are no signs of change for the time being," says Victor Renes, a researcher with the Catholic organization Caritas which assists the poor.

The growth has partly been based on factors such as the deregulation of the labour market, which creates temporary or unqualified jobs, Renes told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The Spanish economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the European Union (EU) in recent years, and is expected to maintain a growth rate of more than 3 per cent until 2009.

Unemployment is likely to drop this year to 7.8 per cent, which would be the lowest level since 1979, according to Economics Minister Pedro Solbes.

Yet at the same time, nearly 20 per cent of the population lives below the official poverty line which EU and other international criteria set at a monthly net income of 530 euros for Spain.

Spain has one of western Europe's highest poverty rates, together with Portugal and Greece.

"Poverty is not being able to participate in society, never being able to go to the movies or to buy a home," economics professor Luis Ayala said.

Forty per cent of Spanish families cannot afford a week of holidays outside the home annually, according to a study by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

Economic growth has mainly boosted company profits, while salaries have declined in real terms, according to the daily El Pais.

Traditional families which helped their less fortunate members have also broken down since the 1970s.

At the same time, Spain has received hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe, who have less chances than Spaniards of accessing stable employment.

Poverty is aggravated by a relatively weak social security system and the existence of a large underground economy which does not offer social protection to its employees.

An estimated 100,000 families live in slum-like conditions in Spain, and some 50,000 people live on the street.

In the capital Madrid, beggars give long speeches about their problems on underground trains, elderly widows clad in black beg at restaurant entrances, and young men try to sell packets of paper handkerchiefs on the street.

The typical poor person is no longer just an elderly person - often a widowed housewife without an adequate pension - or a homeless alcoholic.

Nearly half of homeless people are now foreigners, according to the INE. Thirteen per cent of the homeless have higher-level studies and 11 per cent have a job.

People whose appearance does not reveal them as being poor queue in front of charity eateries where they can get a free meal in Madrid.

"This can happen to anyone," a homeless man named Lorenzo Arguelles Silva said.

By Sinikka Tarvainen, Dpa