By Vivienne Russell | 26 September 2012
Prime Minister David Cameron has restated his pledge to increase aid spending to 0.7% of UK national income by next year, saying: ‘We can’t afford to wait.’
In a speech at the United Nations in New York yesterday, Cameron said the economic downturn could not be used as an excuse to row back from commitments on aid. He specifically defended the eight Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000.
‘I know there are some who say we can’t afford to do that right now. They believe we have to focus on ourselves. And if that means breaking promises, then they’re sorry – but it just has to be done. Well I’m sorry, but it doesn't,’ the prime minister said.
‘When we make a promise to the poorest people in the world, we should keep it… More than 5,000 infants die every day from preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea. So to those who say we can’t afford to act, I say we can’t afford to wait.’
Cameron was in New York to co-chair the first meeting of a high-level UN panel on future development objectives. The panel, established by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon earlier this year, is charged with recommending global development aims beyond 2015, the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It is expected to present its first report to Ban in the first half of next year.
Speaking after the panel’s discussions, Cameron said it had been an ‘excellent meeting’. He stressed that the causes and not just the symptoms of poverty must be tackled. He also highlighted the need to tackle corruption.
‘The presence of the rule of law, of property rights, of properly functioning markets, of good governance: those things are essential as we look to refresh the Millennium Development Goals and look to the eradication of poverty for the future.’
Cameron’s fellow co-chairs on the panel are Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Other panel members include Emilia Pires, Timor-Leste’s finance minister, and Ngozi Okonje-Iweala, minister of finance for Nigeria and a recent candidate for president of the World Bank.
The panel is next due to meet on November 1. Cameron said he hoped this would be in London.
