§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department(a) has taken and (b) plans to take to meet the commitments of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. [44351]
§ Clare ShortI have been asked to reply. The Millennium Declaration endorsed the Millennium Development Goals, a set of 2015 targets for poverty reduction. We worked hard to get UN agreement to these goals and all of the work of my Department is aimed at reaching these Goals. The Millennium Declaration also called on industrialised countries to reduce trade barriers for least developed countries, debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries, and increased development assistance, particularly for countries with large numbers of people in poverty and effective pro-poor policies.
My Department has also worked hard with others in the Government to achieve agreement at Doha to a trade round which creates significant opportunities for developing countries and poor people. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative has led to over $50 billion in debt relief being granted to qualifying countries. This Government has increased UK Official Development Assistance by a third in real terms since 1997. We are committed to making substantial further progress towards the UN 0.7 per cent. target in the next spending round. At the UN conference on Financing for Development in Mexico last week, the European Union announced a commitment to increase average Official Development Assistance as a proportion of gross national income to 0.39 per cent. by 2006, an increase of $7 billion.
833WMy Department will continue to focus its efforts on achieving the Goals set out in the Millennium Declaration. Details of how we have contributed during 2001–02 to achieving the Millennium Development Goals will be published next month in our Departmental Report.