Development aid meet a damp squib
Another attempt to provide developing countries with funds for development ended with a whimper earlier this month, as industrialised countries failed to meet their promised aid targets. Instead of committing 0.7 per cent of its gross national product (GNP) as agreed upon way back in 1970, the European Union (EU), for example, parted with only 0.39 per cent at the International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), held in Monterrey, Mexico, from March 18 to 22, 2002.
The FfD's outcome, titled the "Monterrey Consensus', was a washed-out version of the initial draft. No carbon tax, global reform or doubled aid but lots of words, politics and the usual cocktail of charity, rapacity and diplomacy that governs global development. Minor aid, debt relief, removal of trade barriers and private investment were promised, but little was done by way of daring global change.
The supposed saving grace was that US President George Bush actually attended Monterrey and admitted that aid helps. He announced an additional $5 billion in aid over the next three budget years (although there is confusion that the figure may actually be $10 billion), through