Global Policy Forum

By Mark Atkinson

Japan, France and Denmark have scuppered an international agreement to loosen the strings attached to Third World aid donations by rich industrialised nations, prompting accusations of putting narrow financial interests ahead of effective development policies.

After a two-day emergency meeting in Paris, members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development failed to reach an agreement on untying aid to the world's poorest 48 countries despite the support of 18 of the 21 members represented.

Clare Short, the British secretary of state for international development, said: "We deeply regret that members of the DAC have failed to reach a consensus on proposals for untying financial aid. We have done our best to seek consensus, for example by accepting that other categories of aid would not be covered at least at the outset."

Japan's reservations stem from fears that its technical consultancy companies will lose out if they are forced to compete for aid contracts in an open market, undermining domestic political support for aid spending, while both France and Denmark are also concerned about the potential loss of business at a time when so much of their aid is tied.

Jeff Chinnock of Action Aid in the UK said: "It is an utter disgrace that rich countries, who claim that they are trying to tackle extreme poverty, cannot take even the smallest step towards reducing the commercial abuse of their aid programmes. It is breathtaking hypocrisy."

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.