§ 13. Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the distribution of the EU aid package to overseas countries. [21894]
§ Clare ShortEuropean Community aid is distributed on a regional basis to all developing countries and countries in transition. Provisional figures for 2000 show that the percentage of EC development assistance spent in low-income countries continues to fall and is now below 50 per cent. This is unsatisfactory but difficult to change because many members states and large parts of the Commission support the distribution of aid for political rather than developmental purposes.
In November 2000, the Council and Commission adopted a new development policy which makes poverty reduction the central objective for all EC programmes in developing countries. In line with our published strategy on working with the European Community we continue to work to improve the impact of EC aid on the Millennium Development Goals including through the allocation of a much higher percentage of EC aid to poor countries.