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To: maceng2 who wrote (20552)	1/6/2005 1:52:50 PM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 116555

Gordon Brown, the potential new UK leader speaks.. Britain puts debt relief at heart of new 'Marshall Plan' 01-06-2005, 15h04 David Cheskin - (AFP/POOL) LONDON (AFP) - Britain will use its presidency of the G8 group of industrialised nations to push for a modern day Marshall Plan delivering full debt cancellation, trade benefits and financial assistance for the world's poorest countries, finance minister Gordon Brown revealed. In a keynote speech in Edinburgh, the chancellor of the exchequer reiterated Britain's support for a moratorium on debt repayments for the countries worst affected by the December 26 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. But he said rich nations must also tackle the underlying causes of poverty for the entire developing world, proposing a plan modelled on former US Secretary of State General George Marshall's blueprint to restore the European economy from the devastation of World War II. Brown renewed his call for the world's richest countries to cancel the 80 billion dollars of debts owed by poor nations to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. He also reiterated British proposals that the IMF revalue its massive gold holdings to help finance debt relief for poor countries. "Let me say the urgency and scale of the agenda I am going to propose for debt relief, for new funds for development and for fair trade is now even more pressing given the tragic events of recent days," Brown said, according to an advance copy of the speech. "I believe in 2005 we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver for our times a modern Marshall Plan for the developing world -- a new deal between the richest countries and the poorest countries but one in which the developing countries are not supplicants but partners." He said Britain would make three key proposals at the annual Group of Eight summit of world leaders in Gleneagles, Scotland, in July: -- The full writing-off of debts for burdened countries. -- The first trade round in history that benefits that poorest countries. -- A new international finance facility to offer immediate long term aid for investment and development, tapping international capital markets to raise an additional 50 billion dollars each year for the next decade. Brown's speech came ahead of a week-long trip to Africa, where he will visit Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa to underscore Britain's commitment to helping the continent. He warned that the Millennium Development Goals, a UN-brokered plan agreed five years ago with eight aims to be achieved by 2015, including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, might not be met unless rich countries redoubled their efforts. "Already, so close to the start of our journey to 2015, it is clear that our destination risks becoming out of reach, receding into the distance," he said. As Brown was speaking, British Prime Minister Tony Blair also urged the world not to lose sight of tackling the plight of Africa, where he said there was "the equivalent of a man-made preventable tsunami every week". Blair has put the plight of Africa, which he has previously described as a "scar on the world's conscience", at the heart of Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, which it assumed on January 1. London will also take the helm of the European Commission in the second half of this year. Last year, Blair established the Commission for Africa, a group of dignitaries from Africa and elsewhere designed to find long-term development solutions for the continent. G7 finance ministers -- from G8 members excluding Russia -- will meet in London in February to discuss Third World debt and finance for development, in the wake of a UN Millennium Project Report on poverty due later this month. Further meetings of G7 finance ministers will take place in April.

To: maceng2 who wrote (20552)	1/9/2005 8:45:28 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

The US suffers from the same kind of limitations on free trade as other less developed nations, that doesn't mean one can't whole heartedly be for less trade restrictions. Basically countries say they are all for free trade until some group starts to lose and then those groups try to marshall the government power to impose sanctions. Mostly these things work against the countries who impose them, like the recent steel tariffs. Oh maybe it gave our inefficient steel industry a few months to sort out their pension mess, but in the end it wound up costing US industry in terms of higher costs in any industry that created anything with steel. Slowly but surely these secondary effects are becoming known and impossible to ignore, so the push now is towards more open markets everywhere, even here in the US where Capitalism, private property and free markets are under continual assault by those who want the government to "manage" everything. Typically though, Western Nations exploit developing nations. Give me an example of a country which has not benefited from trade with a large more developed one.