§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they are taking as holders of the Presidency of the European Union to encourage other member states to adopt the same priorities as those established in the recent White Paper Eliminating World Poverty and, in particular, to harmonise and strengthen contributions by all member states both to the United Nations multilateral institutions and to the international financial institutions. [HL577]
§ Lord WhittyDuring the UK Presidency, we will work with our European Union partners to try to secure their commitment to the Organisation for Economic Co-op Development's (OECD) 21st Century Strategy and international development targets. We are planning to discuss how to put the strategy into practice in our programmes at a high level seminar which we will hold in March for the development Ministers from member states, appropriate European Commissioners, and representatives from the European Parliament's Development Committee. We will also seek to make sure that poverty eradication is at the heart of the EU's Lome negotiating mandate.
We will also continue to work closely with all our EU partners across the international financial institutions and the UN's development agencies in order, where possible, to reach common positions on the governance and policies of those institutions.