Nahraf
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This was expected as many British politicians have criticized foreign aid to its biggest recipient India with a expensive space program. The headings were "Britain gives India 1.9 Billion in Foreign Aid while India spends 1.75 Billion on its space program!". This good news for other recipients of British aid.
news.outlookindia.com | Britain to Redirect Its Overseas Development Aid: Report
Britain to Redirect Its Overseas Development Aid: Report
H S Rao/London | Sep 16, 2010
Britain plans to end or reduce overseas aid to poor in fast-emerging nations such as India, China and Russia and redirect it towards countries like Pakistan and other conflict regions where it can make a difference.
The 7 billion pound overseas annual aid budget will be directed to areas where Britain has a clear national interest, Andrew Mitchell, Britain's Minister for International Development, was quoted as saying by The Times.
Overseas aid and the health budget are the only government spending that is ring-fenced in the coming financial year.
Mitchell called for a new emphasis on stabilizing potentially failing states at the expense of "developing countries that have a stable government and a well-established rule of law".
"I am pushing for us, in future to spend more of the UK's aid programme in conflict and fragile countries," he said.
"Because in doing so we will maximise our impact on the lives of the most vulnerable, while also leveraging the contribution that aid can make to national security."
He said "In India there is a development paradox. On the one hand, there are more poor people in India than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. On the other India has a space programme, it is a nuclear power, it is roaring out of poverty because of economic policies. They have their own aid programme of, I think, 1 billion pounds in Afghanistan."
Russia and the emerging economic superpower China, which had 250 million pounds in the past five years, are to lose British aid funding.
"The coalition government has, even in very difficult economic times, underlined and reinforced Britain's development commitment to the poor world and made it crystal clear that we will not seek to balance the books on the backs of the poorest people on the planet," Mitchell said.
"The money will be redirected towards those countries where they can make the most difference," he said.
news.outlookindia.com | Britain to Redirect Its Overseas Development Aid: Report
Britain to Redirect Its Overseas Development Aid: Report
H S Rao/London | Sep 16, 2010
Britain plans to end or reduce overseas aid to poor in fast-emerging nations such as India, China and Russia and redirect it towards countries like Pakistan and other conflict regions where it can make a difference.
The 7 billion pound overseas annual aid budget will be directed to areas where Britain has a clear national interest, Andrew Mitchell, Britain's Minister for International Development, was quoted as saying by The Times.
Overseas aid and the health budget are the only government spending that is ring-fenced in the coming financial year.
Mitchell called for a new emphasis on stabilizing potentially failing states at the expense of "developing countries that have a stable government and a well-established rule of law".
"I am pushing for us, in future to spend more of the UK's aid programme in conflict and fragile countries," he said.
"Because in doing so we will maximise our impact on the lives of the most vulnerable, while also leveraging the contribution that aid can make to national security."
He said "In India there is a development paradox. On the one hand, there are more poor people in India than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. On the other India has a space programme, it is a nuclear power, it is roaring out of poverty because of economic policies. They have their own aid programme of, I think, 1 billion pounds in Afghanistan."
Russia and the emerging economic superpower China, which had 250 million pounds in the past five years, are to lose British aid funding.
"The coalition government has, even in very difficult economic times, underlined and reinforced Britain's development commitment to the poor world and made it crystal clear that we will not seek to balance the books on the backs of the poorest people on the planet," Mitchell said.
"The money will be redirected towards those countries where they can make the most difference," he said.
