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Ban: economic crisis no excuse to abandon development aid pledges

Ban: economic crisis no excuse to abandon development aid pledges

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Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called today on leaders of the “Group of Eight” (G-8) industrialized nations to fulfil their pledges made at Gleneagles in 2005 to increase development aid by $50 billion by 2010, saying the current economic crisis cannot be an excuse to abandon commitments.

Half of the $50 billion pledged by G-8 leaders was for Africa, and Mr. Ban noted that only 10 per cent of that has come through so far.

“The economic crisis cannot become an excuse to abandon commitments. It is even more reason to make them concrete,” Mr. Ban said during his monthly press conference in New York.

“My priority is the needs of the most vulnerable,” he stated, adding that he is sending a letter to G-8 leaders stressing his concerns.

Ahead of the G-8 summit, to be held in July in Italy, the General Assembly will hold the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development from 24 to 26 June in New York.

In an address to a meeting last month in Geneva tasked with finding creative alternatives to funding development, Mr. Ban pointed out that the global recession is eroding traditional forms of financing growth in the poorer nations.

“The economic crisis makes innovative financing even more important,” he stated, noting that as economies shrink, official development assistance (ODA) from governments was coming under tighter budgetary pressures.