Make way for fair trade, says Millennium Campaign

Bangkok:  The United Nations Millennium Campaign is calling for donor countries gathering at the Financing for Development Conference in Doha to commit to equitable trade rules and more effective aid that can help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  Poor countries in turn must focus on mobilising domestic resources and enhance MDG-related public expenditures, as poor people brace themselves for the ripple effects of the global economic shock.

“Trade could be the most important source of external development financing for many poor nations, but not until the rules are changed in favor of achieving the MDGs,” said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign.

“However, as the result of the financial crisis, global trade may contract for the first time in decades. At the G-20 summit in Washington, world leaders affirmed their commitment to reform the currently skewed trade regulations, and at this week’s conference in Doha they must now live up to that commitment,” he added.

Shetty asserted that clear timelines have to be defined to put in place a trade system with genuine market access for poor countries and an end to trade-distorting agricultural subsidies that deny farmers an opportunity to compete on equal footing.  At the same time, poor countries must mobilise domestic resources towards fighting poverty and achieving the MDGs.

As the financial crisis bites deeper, rich countries reviewing their public spending for cuts must start by eliminating their wasteful agricultural policies that only help rich farmers at the expense of poor people. They must eliminate all remaining limitations to market access for the poorest and most vulnerable economies. Rich countries have pledged to provide free market access time and time again, but have maintained restrictions which make a mockery of their commitments.

World leaders reiterated their commitment to the MDGs at the G-20 summit in Washington.  Donor governments must not use the financial crisis as an excuse to renege on the commitments they have already made to work towards the achievement of the MDGs and to deliver aid. 

At the G-20 meeting, the UN Millennium Campaign called for a schedule for delivering on existing aid commitments and for a special bailout package of $300 billion in additional financing for poor nations over the next two years to weather the financial crisis.

According to the OECD, less than half of all bilateral aid can be used by recipients to address their needs. Donors should improve the effectiveness of their aid by reducing the amount of “aid” that is actually spent in donor countries themselves and by reducing bilateral aid agreements.

At the same time, it is now more urgent than ever for poor countries to mobilise domestic resources to fight poverty and allocate it towards the MDGs and meeting the needs of their poorest citizens. This is the only sustainable long-term option for financing development.

This can be achieved through a combination of widening tax bases, more effective tax collection, improving the efficiency of government systems of service provision, and fighting corruption.

On October 17-19, the UN Millennium Campaign and its partners mobilised more than 116 million people around the world as part of “Stand Up and Take Action,” demanding that world leaders keep their commitments to end poverty and achieve the MDGs.

To arrange interviews with Millennium Campaign spokespeople or for more information contact:

Kallayaphorn (Jasmine) Jaruphand

66 2 288 2867

jaruphand@un.org       

Mandira Moddie

91 981 885 7582