Gordon Brown’s Crusade on Third World Debt

[TKwhiskers]

Gordon Brown is attempting to build a broad, international consensus behind his proposals to fund debt relief and double aid to the world's poorest countries.

Speaking in Newcastle today Brown said, "at a time when there is an urgency about the need to act, what we are proposing is nothing less than a new deal between rich countries and poor countries."

"A new global economic alliance that engages the richest G8 countries and all 25 countries of the European Union from the richest to the poorest."

Brown will ask rich, oil-producing countries to support his call for greater debt relief and aid to poor nations. He also wants other countries to sign up to its idea to use International Monetary Fund gold reserves to pay for writing off the debts of the world's poorest countries.

"Instead of the poorest countries paying up to $15 billion on debt servicing between now and 2015, the poorest countries should have their debt servicing payments wiped out,"

He has also proposed the creation of an International Finance Facility (IFF) that would raise money available for aid spending now by issuing bonds against future development budgets.

So far the idea has not been backed by all G8 members and Brown wants to get a pilot IFF running in the next few weeks to fund vaccination programs.

"It’s not enough to picture the New Jerusalem we must build it."
ABC News / Reuters

Do people think Brown's Crusade will succeed?

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I certainly hope, so it has changed my opinion of Brown, before I didnt think he would be a great PM but if he could pull this off it would be one of the greatest achievements of all time - not a s*xy as walking on the moon but more significant.

The real problem is not just the will of the west (which is a significant probelm) but the competence of government in Africa - throwing money at the problem.
I believe an independant organisation like Oxfam needs to expand in to project development - basically a non-profit professional consulting firm that can help plan and audit development projects in Africa so that money isnt wasted and then off course Fair Trade can build upon this base.

It is true, if the people were dying in New York or Toronto, London or Paris this would have been solved in the 1970s