Leaders urged to press for end to poverty

David Cameron has urged fellow world leaders to “keep up the emphasis on eradicating extreme poverty” as he chaired a meeting of a UN high-level panel in Liberia.

The prime minister visited the west African country on the final leg of a three-day trip to Africa, in which he has also visited Algeria and Libya.

He chaired a session of the panel with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of Indonesia, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia’s president, as leaders attempt to create global targets to eliminate poverty to replace the so-called millennium development goals.

Mr Cameron said: “We are chairing a panel that’s going to write the rules for aid and development for the next 20 years. It’s up to us to keep up the emphasis on eradicating extreme poverty.”

He added: “We must also look at those things that keep countries poor, including conflict and lack of justice.”

The existing millennium development goals, which include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, have not been easy to hit. The UK will meet the aim of spending 0.7 per cent of its national income on foreign aid this year, but the government has faced a protracted battle over the aid budget with Conservative backbenchers, who believe it should face the same cuts as other departments.

“At this meeting, David Cameron should be pushing for an end to global hunger by 2025,” said Barbara Stocking, chief executive of Oxfam, “and an end to tax dodging which could pay for this and much more. These companies are effectively taking food from hungry mouths.”