Peter Mandelson, the European Union Trade Commissioner, has voiced his support for Gordon Brown's Marshall Plan for Africa - but says that a "massive injection of political will" is needed to tackle world poverty.
In a series of e-mail interviews with Times Online, Mr Mandelson and other key participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos backed the Government's plans to use the UK presidency of the G-8 group of nations to relieve debt and increase aid for Africa.
Also supporting the Chancellor's plan was Jeffrey Sachs, the Harvard economist and UN advisor on poverty reduction who will be in Davos tonight when Tony Blair outlines Britain's ambitions for its G-8 leadership to an audience of politicians, business leaders and social activists.
Professor Sachs told Times Online that there were several reasons why the analogy with the massive US aid programme for Europe in the wake of the Second World War was useful. "First, it was intensive, second it was successful, third it may remind the United States of a time when it showed a greater interest in its global role," he said.
Mr Mandelson, the former Labour cabinet minister and domestic rival to Mr Brown, was asked whether the UK plan, incorporating trade reform, increased aid and debt relief, constituted a way forward. He replied: "Absolutely. Aid and debt relief are two thirds of the development triad. Trade is the third - and every bit as vital, though it will not work without aid and debt relief as well. You cannot unpick this package."
Mr Mandelson added: "Extreme poverty is a predictor of every kind of social instability, violence and state failure. There will be no global security without an end to extreme poverty and a global commitment to development."
Mr Brown today pledged almost £2.4 billion to combat poverty, including £1 billion to fund vaccines for children in the poorest countries. The Chancellor’s commitment was more than double the money donated to the same fund yesterday by Bill Gates, the world’s richest man. If other nations respond, five million lives could be saved between now and 2015, Mr Brown said in a speech in London.
An audit last year of the UN Millennium Development Goals Project, an equally ambitions plan launched in 2000 which called for the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, uncovered a disturbing lack of progress. Not one part of the plan was judged to be "on track" in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In some areas, such as disease, the situation had worsened. The amount of people suffering from tuberculosis in Africa, for example, had actually increased since the scheme's launch.
Mr Mandelson said that the UN goals were achievable, "but not without renewed effort and commitment". He said particular attention needed to be focussed on progress towards the UN goal that rich countries devote 0.7 per cent of their GDP to development.
"That is why imaginative proposals like Gordon Brown’s for an International Financing Facility - to frontload aid - should if at all possible, be acted on," he said.
Mr Mandelson added: "Better terms of trade - the kind of terms the EU has pursued by improving access to European markets for producers in developing countries - must accompany efforts to increase aid or provide debt relief. These improved terms of trade are high priorities EU trade policy."
According to trade officials, a 1-per cent increase in Africa’s share of global trade would produce seven times more income for Africa than it currently receives in aid.
As Mr Blair travelled to Davos for tonight's speech, Mr Brown this morning pledged more than £2 billion for health and education projects for the developing world. He also confirmed that Britain would give £960 million towards a UN-backed international vaccination drive to which Bill Gates, the Microsoft boss, pledged £400 million of his own money on Monday.
Mr Brown also said that a further £1.4 billion would fund education programmes in developing countries, with a focus on girls’ schools.
But the Chancellor has acknowledged that support from the rest of the G-8 and the backing of the United States, the world’s largest economy, in particular, is essential if his Marshall Plan for Arica is to succeed.
The World Economic Forum is a key platform from which Mr Brown will look to sell the initiative, although he will not be in the Swiss resort until later in the week. Attended by the world’s "power elite" of businessmen, policymakers and politicians, the event gives Mr Brown the opportunity to lobby individuals in a position to mobilise the huge amounts of money and willing required.
However, Mr Brown is likely to have to wait until next month’s meeting of G-8 finance to meet high-ranking Washington policymakers. The outgoing United States Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, is due to take part in an informal meeting of World Trade Organisation ministers on the sidelines of the main event on Saturday. But no other senior US trade or finance officials are expected in Davos.
Aid organisations have pointed towards the massive amounts of aid pledged to the victims of the Asian Tsunami disaster as a signal that the will exists to combat poverty. But are concerned that a fall-off in media coverage could precipitate a reduction in action
"The world has a notoriously short attention span," said Barbara Stocking, the Director of Oxfam GB, also interviewed by Times Online. According to Oxfam, 30,000 people die from preventable diseases every day - the equivalent of a man-made tsunami a week.
"Despite this, and despite a lot of rhetoric about the need to end unnecessary suffering, rich countries have not done enough," Ms Stocking added. "The public have shown that it cares and that wants governments to act. But if the world fails to act to meet even these minimal goals, and current trends are allowed to continue, 45 million more children will die between now and 2015."
To read the interviews in full click here.
