Holy See calls for solidarity to fight poverty in Africa and help development

(Oct. 13, 2006) The Holy See has urged the rich nations of the world to honour their promises to fight poverty and help genuine development in Africa saying such solidarity will contribute to common welfare and peace in the world. Speaking on Thursday at a United Nations meeting on Africa, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the UN commended the New Partnership for Africa’s Development or NEPAD, whose objectives of eradicating poverty and setting countries on the path to sustainable growth and development, he said, are in line with the international commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and in particular to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Archbishop Migliore particularly regarded the need for educational opportunities for both girls and boys, as well as literacy programmes as essential in achieving development goals. “…the well-being of the peoples of Africa is an indispensable condition for the attainment of the universal common good,” Archbishop Migliore said, adding, “…a decisive condition for bringing peace to the world is an acknowledgement of the interdependence between wealthy and poor countries, so that development will be understood as a task common to us all.” Hence he called upon governments to honour the promises that they made with regard to debt relief or forgiveness as well as the timely fulfilment of the pledge of devoting 0.7% of GNP as Official Development Assistance (ODA).