By Tony Grew - 9th November 2010
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said that Western nations face a real test in honouring their pledges to developing nations.
Brown appeared before the international development committee.
He gave evidence as part of their investigation of the recent millennium delevopment goals summit, its outcomes and future direction.
Brown said there is a stark contrast between "the potential for this decade and the probable outcome".
"Africa is growing as fast as Asia had been growing," he said.
There has been huge progress on the numbers attending school and living past five years old, while malaria deaths have halved in many African nations.
Much of that progress is due to debt relief, Brown said.
Meanwhile there needs to be a boost in world food production of 70 per cent, which is an opportunity for Africa to become a major producer.
Brown said the problem is that aid is likely to fall as percentage of national incomes in donor countries.
There are 70 million African children not at school and the infant death rate is still "very high".
Also, productivity is very low without infrastructure.
"It could be the best decade of development but it is likely there will be less resources," Brown told the committee.
He also said there is "a security problem where Al Qaeda is making progress by exploiting social discontent".
Brown said young people in Africa have an expectation that Western nations will keep their millennium pledges.
More than 20 per cent of young people in Africa are unemployed and susceptible to propaganda, especially if the West fails to honour its promises.
"They must be kept," he said.
Asked how successful the MDG summit in September was in laying the basis for commitments as opposed to aspirations, the former PM said the test will be the extent to which pledges are honoured.
He pointed to IFIN as an example of good practice. It was created to provide vaccination via a private bond issue underpinned by six governments.
It has released "four or five billion dollars" for immunisation.
"You can front-load it in areas where there are dangers from polio or diptheria," he added.
Brown said IFIN has saved three millions lives.
"Better forms of long-term funding - that is a real test," he said.
Brown praised the work of the African Union and the African Development Bank in providing more and more financing on a cross-border basis.
Integrated programmes for transport, power and energy have worked well and will be increased.
Brown said Africa is unique as a continent where just 10 per cent of trade is within the continent
"They need to trade with eachother," he told the committee.
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