Brown calls for increased funding to fight global poverty

Chancellor Gordon Brown has called for more political resolve from rich countries to tackle poverty in the world's poorest states.

The Chancellor, addressing delegates including Bob Geldof, at a London conference on globalisation, said that aid targets laid out in the development goals for 2015 at the Millennium conference in New York may not be met until the 22nd Century.

Mr Brown said: "This is not good enough - the obligation we promised to honour for sub-Saharan Africa was not for 2165 but for 2015."

Turning to the Millennium global poverty target, Mr Brown said that although the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 10% in the last 10 years, there are one billion people still living on less than $1 a day.

The Chancellor warned that without "greatly increased growth", sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia would all fail to see poverty targets met by 2015.

"Our best estimate is that it will not be achieved in sub Saharan Africa for more than a hundred years," he said. "This is not good enough - the dream we dreamed was not for 2147 but for 2015."

Mr Brown is seeking support for plans to dramatically increase international aid for health, education and poverty programmes.

Pointed out that next year was the 20th anniversary of Live Aid and he said that this was a "challenge to act now".

"Live Aid was about a self evident truth that we cannot be this rich and see people that poor," he said.

"That we cannot sit and watch people starving to death on TV right in front of our eyes. …Yet 20 years on the great divide between rich and poor countries has grown, is growing and will continue to grow."

Mr Brown said: "If we are to put ourselves on track again to meet the Millennium Development Goals, we have to rouse the conscience of the world anew, each of us playing our part."

Prime Minister Tony Blair has already stated that for the sake of the poorest countries the UK G8 presidency in 2005 will be a 'Development Presidency'.

The UK has called for an extra $50 billion a year to be set aside for development aid in a bid to meet the Millennium Goals for health, education and poverty targets.

(SP)