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Wolfensohn further called on rich countries to honor their commitment to devote 0.7 percent of their annual GDP to overseas aid. He told the conference that overseas aid to Africa had fallen drastically from US$ 32 per head in 1990 to just US$ 19 in 1998, despite evidence of aid's development effectiveness in countries with effective economic and social policies. - It is hypocritical to give debt relief with one hand, and then deny poor countries the ability to export their way out of poverty with the other, he said. "Rich countries must open their markets and reduce their agricultural subsidies. The OECD today spends more than US$ 300 billion a year on agricultural subsidies, a total roughly equivalent to the entire GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa." - In many potential export products, African countries face high tariff rates, he said. Tariffs on meat, fruits, and vegetables can exceed 100 percent while on textiles and footwear they range from 15-30 percent. Wolfensohn was addressing a London conference called by British Chancellor Gordon Brown, and Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short, to focus on child poverty. Arriving in the U.K. after an extensive visit to Africa, during which he and the Managing Director of the IMF, Horst Kohler, met with 22 Heads of State, Wolfensohn made it clear that the challenge of helping Africa and its children, should be top of the international development agenda. - Africa is the test of whether we can make globalization work for the poor, he said. "Africans must lead their own development efforts, but they need a level playing field," Wolfensohn said, leaving it clear that he had taken the task of "listening to the African leaders" while on his trip seriously. Appealing to rich countries to increase their financial support for debt relief, Wolfensohn said that the World Bank was firmly committed to working with partners to ensure that the International Development Goals, agreed by the United Nations, could be met by 2015. "We are working with governments to implement anti-poverty strategies that will focus not just on growth, but on improving key social indicators such as access to education, nutrition, healthcare, and infant and maternal mortality, and to make sure that growth truly benefits the poor," said Wolfensohn. However, he added, achieving the development goals by 2015 would require a major effort by governments, donors, and multilateral institutions. "On present trends, we in the international community will not succeed. Business-as- usual will no longer work. Whether rich countries reduce their barriers to trade and honor their agreements on overseas aid will be a test of their commitment to poverty reduction and to a peaceful and stable world for all our children." The World Bank presented a paper to the child poverty conference showing that, on present trends, none of the International Development Goals on health and education are likely to be achieved at the global level, namely: a two-thirds decline in infant and under-five mortality, a three-fourths decline in maternal mortality, and universal primary education (by 2015), and gender equality in education (by 2005). But the education and gender equality goals are likely to be achieved by a considerable number of developing countries in several regions. A few countries are also on track to achieve large reductions in infant and under-five mortality. In East Asia, poverty declined rapidly during the 1990's, falling most dramatically in China. In Latin America, both the share and number of the poor declined between 1990-1998, and social indicators generally improved. In South Asia, the share of the population living in poverty declined through the 1990's, but not enough to reduce the absolute number of poor people. In Africa, the number of poor increased in the 1990's because growth was so slow. Africa now has the largest percentage of its population living in poverty. Nigeria accounts for nearly a quarter of Sub-Saharan Africa's poor. On children living in poverty, Wolfensohn said "it is simply unacceptable that in Africa today one child in 7 does not live to see his or her fifth birthday. At a time of unprecedented prosperity, rich countries should be increasing, not cutting, their aid budgets, reaching out, not turning their backs on Africa and its children." - It is time for a concerted appeal to the heads of governments of major aid donors to make it clear, once and for all, that development assistance is not charity, but a vital investment in global peace and security, he went on. "We must remind them that their current levels of foreign aid, at some 0.24 percent of yearly GDP, fall far short of the 0.7 percent target they promised to meet. The difference between these figures is worth a hundred billion dollars a year. For millions of children, this is the difference between life and death." Sources:
Based on World Bank
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