Claire Perry MP attends Bill Gates’ landmark address on the fight against global poverty

Yesterday, July 20th, our MP Claire Perry attended a landmark address by Bill Gates in The Houses of Parliament.

Mr. Gates praised the UK for its continued global leadership in the field of International Development and commended its track record on delivering on the promises made in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He stated: “I welcome the UK’s leadership on international development and its commitment to maintaining the nation’s promise to spend 0.7% of its Gross National Income on official development assistance, despite significant challenges to the British economy. I urge other donor nations, particularly those in the G8, to follow its lead.”

Rt. Hon Alan Duncan, Minister of State for International Development echoed these words, "We must do all we can to make the Millennium Development Goal Summit in September a renewal of all countries' commitments to the MDGs a reality.... Britain is leading the way - and should be proud that it is the first and only country in the world to commit to spending 0.7% of its income on aid from 2013."

With just 5 years to go until the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goal’s Mr. Gates outlined why 2010 must be a year of decisive action in terms of International Development, commenting “In the face of such challenging economic times, we must be even smarter about how resources are used and maintain our commitments to the world’s poor.”

Great progress has already been made in areas such as reducing the proportion of people in chronic poverty by half, and one point six billion people having gained access to safe drinking water since 1990. 

Yet despite this, with just 5 years until the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals, many MDGs are off track and some are even moving in the wrong direction.

More people suffer from chronic hunger today than at any other time in history. MDG 1, to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, is so far off track that it is now moving in the wrong direction. To achieve MDG 1 - 115 million people must be lifted out of chronic hunger each and every year up until 2015 – and this would still only be half of the global problem.

The cost of this under-nutrition to the developing world is estimated to be some $20 – 30 billion per year.

Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation called for a new partnership in International Development, stating: “Aid is important but there are also millions of entrepreneurs in developing countries looking for the opportunity to trade their way out of poverty.....There is a real opportunity, as the Gates Foundation shows, for the private sector to step up to the plate, and build new kinds of partnership for development.”

Aaron Oxley, Executive Director for RESULTS-UK, echoed these sentiments: “Experience shows us the poor are often poor because they are excluded from opportunities and if we can help create the conditions for those opportunities suffering is averted and development ensues”

Claire Perry, MP for Devizes Constituency, joined others in expressing her support for Mr. Gates comments and for the vital Millennium Development Goals Summit due to take place at the UN General Assembly in September.

The aim of yesterday’s meetings was to highlight the ‘living proof’ of International Development and the crucial difference it makes to the lives of millions of people worldwide.