§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the proportion of the European Union's aid budget spent on the world's poorest countries in each of the past 10 years; and what action they are taking to ensure that the eradication of poverty is given the highest priority by the European Union. [HL2755]
§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Baroness Amos):The table below gives figures for the percentage of EC official development assistance (ODA) spent in the world's poorest countries from 1992 to 2001. Figures for 2002 will be available by June.
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Proportion of EC ODA going to the worlds poorest countries 1991–2001 (£millions) Year Aid to poorest countries Total EC aid %to poorest countries 1992 1,933 2,379 72.2 1993 1,980 2,404 53.3 1994 2,376 3,087 58.7 1995 2,292 2,926 60.0
Proportion of EC ODA going to the worlds poorest countries 1991–2001 (£ millions) Year Aid to poorest countries Total EC aid %to poorest countries 1996 2,479 3,171 51.8 1997 2,346 3,083 45.7 1998 2,499 3,661 46.2 1999 2,213 3,735 42.9 2000 2,328 3,977 37.5 2001 3,253 4,979 43.4 We welcome the positive steps that have been taken to increase the proportion of EC aid going to the world's poorest people and its quality. This remains a priority for the UK Government. We are working through the annual budget setting process, the current revision of the Asia and Latin America Regulation and the mid-term review of the Mediterranean and Middle East regulation (MEDA) to secure an increase in the share of EC aid spent in low income countries towards the government target of 70 per cent by 2006.
We are pressing the EC to pursue its reform efforts vigorously in order to implement the November 2000 development policy statement which for the first time made poverty reduction the central objective of EC development programs.