Escaping poverty
From Mr Julian Filochowski Sir: Your commentary (Leading article, 29 June) on the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development's policy positions was wide of the mark, Cafod's demand for a development box in the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Agriculture would give developing countries the flexibility to protect themselves against cheap and dumped food, sold on to world markets by the highly subsidised farmers and exporters in the EU, United States and Canada. It would also give them the flexibility to provide targeted assistance and credit to small farmers producing staple foods. Cafod has not advocated that international aid should be used for this purpose.
Why is it not fair to write off debt, especially when, as you say, `despotic leaders have mismanaged their finances'? To obtain debt relief, the governments of indebted countries have to satisfy rigorous governance conditions and to demonstrate that resources freed by debt relief will be invested in poverty reduction. Cafod has no problem with these conditions, and indeed would like to make the process more exacting by involving civil society far more in the formulation and monitoring of poverty-reduction strategies.
In the wake of the Enron, WorldCom and Xerox scandals, the demand that developing countries should not be forced to open their markets to transnational corporations seems prudent. Do you really mean that the job of 'running Africa' should be left to Wall Street? Again, all that the member agencies of the Trade Justice Movement are asking is that developing countries should have the flexibility to decide when and how they should open their markets to foreign companies. This will depend in part on their ability to put in place the regulatory systems which will ensure that they and their citizens get a fair deal from these companies.
Julian Filochowski
Director of Cafod. London SW9
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