Partnership or sham? Working towards the Millennium Development Goals

The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015 aim to tackle poverty and ensure a shared prosperity for all. But how can developing countries achieve these targets while the global systems of trade, aid and debt relief remain biased against them? While the MDGs are based on the idea of building a global partnership for development, the reality suggests otherwise.

Research from the Instituteof Development Studies and Oxfam inthe UK examinesthe barriers that recent trends in trade, aid and debt relief pose to theachievement of Millennium Development Goal Eight. This goal lists the financialresources and actions required of donor countries to meet the other MDGs.

Goal Eight calls for a global partnership through whichdeveloped countries eliminate trade barriers to exports from developingcountries, provide additional aid, technical assistance and debt relief, andensure that the global patents system prioritises public health.

However, the research argues that the current system,enforced by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the World Bank (WB), locks the developing world into a subordinaterole. Following current trends, the MDGs will not be reached in many countries,especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Specifically, the research finds that:

• Although Goal Eight places responsibility ondeveloped countries, unlike for other MDGs, there are no time limits toachieving its targets.
• The aid contribution target of 0.7 percent ofgross national product (GNP) has only been met by five countries; the averagelevel of aid has declined from 0.33 percent to 0.22 percent of GNP.
• Developing countries have been forced to open uptheir markets and abolish the tariffs and subsidies that protected theirindustries in line with WTO, IMF and WB liberalisation and loan programmes. Developedcountries have not reciprocated, keeping agricultural subsidies andtextile/garment quotas that adversely affect developing countries.
• Stringent patent protection under the WTOTrade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is worseningpublic health crises such as HIV/AIDS in developing countries, particularly insub-Saharan Africa.
• Debt relief under the Enhanced Heavily IndebtedPoor Country (HIPC) Initiative is not enough. Debt repayments continue to use alarge share of the resources of developing countries, diverting what isavailable for basic services such as health and education.

The MDGs will not be achievedwithout fairer access to world trade, a major and sustained increase in aidspending, and effective debt relief programmes. In order to restore credibilityin the global trading system under the WTO, developed countries need to keeptheir promises to the developing world.

The recommendations for achieving the MDGs focus onaddressing Goal Eight by:

• Establishing a five-year time frame for individualcountries to reach the aid target of 0.7 percent of GNP, which would providethe US$100 billion needed to achieve the MDGs.
• Adopting sounder approaches to debt relief basedon realistic assessments of sustainable debt repayment (a maximum of five percentof government spending) and involving partners such as the United Nations.
• Eliminating discriminatory tariffs on imports, includingall tariffs and quotas on garments and textiles from developing economies and allagricultural subsidies in developed countries. Least Developed Countries shouldbe given full access to global markets.
• Reviewing the TRIPS agreement; public health needsshould take precedence over intellectual property rights.