§ 21. Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on her recent visit to India. [79124]
§ Clare ShortI visited India from 22 to 27 March. India is of critical importance in achieving international targets for poverty elimination since 1 in 3 of the poor of the world live there. I agreed with the Indian Government a new country strategy which will soon be published and will focus DFID assistance in a few states which are committed to implementing essential reforms for poverty elimination. These include Orissa and Andhra Pradesh which I visited to discuss how to strengthen our development partnerships with them.
235WThe visit reinforced my view that India has the potential to make much more rapid progress in eliminating poverty. I confirmed Britain's commitment to support Indian partners who share that objective.