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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Finance Ministers meet to advance progress towards Millennium Development Goals

14 September 2005

"We must hasten our efforts to raise the standard of living of the poor and end poverty," said Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon today, ahead of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Barbados.

The Meeting, which will be held from 19-20 September 2005, will be chaired by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Barbados, the Hon Owen Arthur. It will bring together ministers and delegates from up to 53 countries to discuss the special theme: Giving Practical Effect to the Millennium Project Review.

The Meeting will follow the UN General Assembly High Level Plenary on the Millennium Review, which the Secretary-General will address on Friday 16 September 2005.

"Failure to meet the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 is not an option. Too much is at stake. We can no longer be satisfied with incremental change, but radical change is needed in order to ensure these goals are reached," said Mr McKinnon.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who is conducting the Millennium Review for the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will present his findings to Commonwealth Finance Ministers. He will suggest practical ways in which Finance Ministers can help to accelerate progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting will take place just before the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington DC, later this month. Ministers and senior finance officials will discuss aspects of the world economy, including the risks to Commonwealth developing countries arising from high and volatile oil prices; the twin US budget and trade deficits, which pose systemic threats to the global economy; the weakness of the US dollar; higher interest rates in industrial country markets; and weak economic performance in the Eurozone and Japan.

New challenges confronting vulnerable small states, an important constituency of the Commonwealth, such as the compliance costs of responding to higher levels of security threats internationally, higher debt levels, natural disasters and HIV/AIDS will also be discussed.

Also meeting on September 18 will be the Commonwealth Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Ministerial Forum. Under the chairmanship of Minister Manuel Chang of Mozambique, it will discuss the Highly Indebted Poor Countries debt relief package announced at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in July 2005. Ministers will also have the opportunity to discuss the impact of the IMF and World Bank's long-term debt sustainability framework for low income countries, as well as the burden of domestic debt.

There will be an opportunity to showcase the commercial investment funds launched under the Commonwealth Private Investment Initiative which, since its launch in 1995, has mobilised private capital of US$400 million.

Note to Editors:

A concluding press conference will take place at the Barbados Hilton Hotel, Bridgetown, Barbados, on Tuesday 20 September.

A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, can be found on the Commonwealth website at www.thecommonwealth.org/cfmm under Meeting Papers CFMM(05)7.

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative involves 38 countries, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ten of these states are Commonwealth members - Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. HIPCs are eligible for debt relief under the World Bank recommendation.

The Commonwealth Private Investment Initiative (CPII) was launched in 1995 at the Auckland Summit of Commonwealth Heads of Government. It channels long-term commercial investments to support private sector businesses in Commonwealth developing countries. Under CPII a co-ordinated series of regional investment funds have been set up. These invest in expansion or rehabilitation of existing businesses for the establishment of new ventures. Further information can be found on the Commonwealth website at www.thecommonwealth.org/cfmm

For media enquiries, please contact Joel Kibazo on +44 (0) 7740 450 901

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