§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether it is the policy of his Department that the European Constitution should specify poverty eradication as the primary objective of EU development programmes and expenditure in every developing country. [140870]
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Mr. Gareth ThomasThe draft new Treaty suggests that the principal aim of the Union's development policy is to reduce, and in the long term, eradicate poverty. We very much welcome this statement and have lobbied hard for this during the Convention debate.