Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-04-Speech-1-136"
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"en.20000904.9.1-136"2
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"Mr President, first of all I should like to congratulate Mr Imbeni on an excellent report, into which he put a tremendous amount of work.
I want to refer to the question of Third World debt relief. We must be more forceful in our efforts to put the issue of debt relief for Third World countries on a permanent footing. The Jubilee 2000 campaign helped to focus international attention on the debt issue. The campaign has been instrumental in achieving progress in providing additional relief both at multilateral level and by major bilateral creditors. Poor countries face unsustainable debt burdens at the same time as they are confronting natural disasters, famine and the HIV/Aids pandemic. Debt service payments often exceed health and education budgets. Surely there is nothing more important in developing countries than education. If people have literacy and numeracy they are a danger to the leadership of the worst-governed countries. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have brought out an initiative as an official response to the major multilateral lending institutions and the need for debt relief. We all know that the link between debt relief and poverty reduction needs to be substantially strengthened. Debt relief programmes for Third World countries must be put in place permanently.
The joint United Nations programmes on Aids has already estimated that 95% of all HIV-infected individuals live in developing countries. The effect of the Aids pandemic means that progress and development become more difficult. We must address this problem urgently.
The Ugandan President has set up a massive programme to deal with the Aids pandemic in his own country. It is a great example for the rest of the African countries. European Union leaders are meeting in Nice in December to discuss the reform of EU policy programmes.
I would once again call on EU leaders to address the need to control arms exports to Third World countries. It is hard to believe that in the European Union, where all key economic sectors of activity are regulated and controlled by law, the export of arms to third countries seems to go unregulated for the most part. This is a barbaric and hypocritical position. EU leaders should have the courage to face up to the key defence manufacturers. They would also win broader support from the citizens of the EU, who are seeking leadership on this issue."@en1
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