Over two-thirds of the World"s 50 Poorest Countries are experiencing increases in Extreme Poverty by The Associated Press 2:35pm 20th Sep, 2006   September 19, 2006    Many of the world"s poorest countries lamented at a meeting of foreign ministers that over two-thirds of the 50 least developed nations are experiencing increases in extreme poverty.    A day before world leaders gather for their annual meeting, the U.N. General Assembly held a high-level session Monday to focus on progress toward implementing a 10-year action plan for the least developed countries adopted in 2001. The verdict from the countries themselves was unsatisfactory.    "The list of the least developed countries keeps growing," said President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives. "With the high speed of globalization, the gap between the north and the south is ever increasing. Can the rich afford to help the poor?"    The answer is "whether they can afford not to," he said, quoting Jeffrey Sachs, director of the U.N. Millennium Project.    General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa urged stepped-up efforts to help elevate the status of the 600 million people living in the 50 most vulnerable countries in the world.    "The least developed countries remain marginalized in the world economy and continue to suffer from extreme poverty, child mortality and HIV/AIDS," she said. "In many instances development is being set back by civil conflict, and the cost required to rebuild every day life."    While the world"s poorest countries achieved an annual average economic growth rate of 6 percent in 2004, the highest in four decades, overall progress remained mixed, Sheikha Haya said.    "Recent studies by U.N. agencies and the World Bank have revealed that 34 of the total of 50 least developed countries are experiencing increases in extreme poverty," she said.    The key agreement in the 10-year action plan called for rich donor countries to boost aid, trade and debt relief while governments in the world"s 50 most economically vulnerable nations pledged to reform their economies and the way they govern. The plan followed the adoption by world leaders at a September 2000 summit of a series of goals to promote development, the most critical to cut extreme poverty by half by 2015.    Sheikha Haya said the situation for the world"s poor is especially acute in sub-Saharan Africa, where on current trends the U.N. development goals will not be achieved until the next century.    If the current situation persists, she warned, the least developed countries will not achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.    "In fact, over the next decade extreme poverty could actually increase," Sheikha Haya said. "An additional 100 million people could join the 370 million people already living in abject poverty."    Finland"s Labor Minister Tarja Filatov, speaking on behalf of the European Union, welcomed the fact that economic growth in the poorest countries has almost reached the target of 7 percent. But despite this, she said, "poverty and deprivation remain high" in most of the least developed countries.    In 2001, when the action plan was adopted in Brussels, international development aid from donor countries to the least developed nations was approximately 10 billion Euros. By 2004, it had nearly doubled to 10 billion Euros and if the trend continues it will reach over 40 billion Euros by the year 2010 — with the EU the largest donor, she said.    The graduation of Cape Verde and the Maldives from the list of least developed countries "must keep us from the temptation of resignation," she said.    Bhutan"s Prime Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk welcomed the increase in international aid but complained that it was concentrated in a few countries, and in almost half the poorest countries the amount had declined.    Progress in implementing the 10-year action plan "has been unsatisfactory so far, and unless greater efforts are exerted, the prospect of realizing the goals and objectives ... by the target year of 2013 will be beyond reach," he said.    The prime minister urged all countries to commit 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to international assistance — and to earmark between 0.15 and 0.20 percent to the least developed countries.    Reflecting a view of many poor countries, Tanzania"s planning and economy minister Juma Ngasongwa said "there has never been a period before when the least developed countries have introduced and implemented successful reforms, as in the last five years."    "But in reality we are very far behind in achieving half of the commitments and targets set out in the program," he said, noting that while some countries have made progress "the majority are still lagging behind."    Samoa"s Prime Minister Tuila"epa Sailele Malielegaoi said he could not overemphasize "the double disadvantage" of being a least developed country and a small island that has experienced 16 cyclones in the past 25 years and is dependent on just a few sources of income.    He urged donors to continue their support so the country"s modest development would continue.
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