Press Release: Aid in Crisis as World Economy Falters

17th March 2009

Politicians, researchers, government officials and aid agency representatives will gather in Wellington this week for a major symposium on world poverty and how it ought to be addressed.

Prime Ministers John Key and Kevin Rudd recently issued a joint statement on the need to help Pacific island countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The leaders agreed that the impact of the economic crisis on Pacific island nations makes it essential for New Zealand and Australia to sustain support for the MDGs.

The MDGs are eight targets which, if achieved, would dramatically reduce global poverty. In 2000, 189 countries pledged to make primary schooling available to every child, halve the number of people living in extreme poverty and reduce child and maternal mortality.

“This is a matter of justice, dignity and human rights. It is also an investment in New Zealand’s self-interest”, says David Culverhouse, Executive Director of the Council for International Development (CID).

“The global economic crisis makes tackling world poverty and building prosperity more urgent than ever; and a crisis of this magnitude can only be addressed through international cooperation”, agree Dennis McKinlay and Barry Coates, Executive Directors of UNICEF and Oxfam NZ.

The Wellington Symposium on the Millennium Development Goals (20th-21st March) has the theme Eliminating World Poverty: Global Goals and Regional Progress. The event will be hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies, UNICEF, Oxfam New Zealand and CID. The two regions falling furthest behind in the drive to meet the MDGs are sub-Saharan Africa, closely followed by the Pacific − making the symposium’s Pacific focus topical and timely.

“The aim is for the MDGs to be met by 2015. The clock is ticking. We have passed the half-way mark and need to take stock of what progress has been made, both globally and in the Pacific, and consider the challenges that lie ahead,” says Institute of Policy Studies Director Professor Jonathan Boston.

Public interest in New Zealand’s aid and development programmes is running high following comments by Foreign Minister Murray McCully that the government wants to change the way aid money is spent. MFAT and the State Services Commission are currently reviewing the mandate and operations of New Zealand’s aid agency, NZAID.

The financial crisis, coupled with the government’s review of NZAID, make the forthcoming symposium both topical and important. For more information see the attached event programme.

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