Five years on from Mandela – UK on track to meet Gleneagles commitments

03 February 2010

Douglas Alexander today highlighted Britain’s progress on helping the world’s poorest people on the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s landmark Trafalgar Square address.

The International Development Secretary hailed the achievements of the past five years with the UK firmly on track to fulfil the promises made at the Gleneagles summit.

Nelson Mandela’s speech helped launch the Make Poverty History campaign which mobilised millions of ordinary people to demand debt relief, trade justice and a fairer deal for the world’s poor.

The UK has led the world in its response. It has helped keep 5.5 million children in school, bring treatment for AIDS to 4 million people and supply clean water to more than seven million people in Africa alone.

And it has led the way in cancelling the debts of the poorest countries.

But Mr Alexander warned that the effects of the global financial crisis and a lack of progress against the Millennium Development Goals could undermine the successes since 2005.

Douglas Alexander said:

“It is five years since Nelson Mandela captured the imagination of millions by calling on world leaders to make poverty history and it is right that we should assess what we have achieved.

“Since 2005, the UK has helped make real improvements to the lives of millions of poor people in Asia and Africa – giving them the chance to lift themselves out of poverty.

“We are on track to meet the commitments we made at Gleneagles and we can be proud of the start we have made.

“We have been at the forefront of debt relief, giving poor countries the opportunity to spend money on their citizens rather than servicing debts to rich countries and institutions.

“But there is much more work to be done if the world is going to meet the Millennium Development Goals and time is running out. The UK is meeting its promises – now others is the international community must do the same.”

Debt relief was one of the key demands of the make Poverty History campaign. In the past five years 22 African countries have had their debts completely cancelled and have been able to increase their spending on basic services for their people.

Key achievements highlighted by Mr Alexander include:

• UK aid to Africa is on track to increase from £1.3 billion in 2004 to £3.4 billion in 2010;
• 28 countries - 22 of which are African - have received 100% debt cancellation including Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Cameroon and Sierra Leone;
• 4 million people now receive AIDS treatment - a tenfold increase over five years; and
• Helping to ensure training of 100,000 teachers and building of 12,000 classrooms in developing countries 2007/08.

The UK is also on track to meet its central commitment at the G8 summit at Gleneagles - to increase the share of national income spent on development to 0.7 per cent.

A draft bill is currently before Parliament which would legislate for 0.7 per cent of Gross National income to be spent on Official Development Assistance from 2013.