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Future of CDC

It is a pleasure to speak today from the Labour Front Bench about CDC. I thank the Chair of the International Development Committee, the right hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce), and the rest of the Committee for their work. It is crucial and vital that CDC should play its part in promoting investment in developing countries to promote economic development and poverty alleviation. In 2009 development finance institutions contributed about $33 billion of new private sector investment in developing countries. The contribution made by institutions such as CDC to developing countries has the potential to make an even more significant impact on economic development and poverty alleviation, as part of the UK's continuing work in international development. As the right hon. Member for Gordon has pointed out, it is vital to build on its work and to focus on areas where improvements can be made. With a mandate to boost economic growth by investing in private sector development and more than £2 billion of planned investment in the next five years, there is, as I have said, a great opportunity. I want to focus on some of the issues raised by right hon. and hon. Members in the debate. The right hon. Member for Gordon highlighted the importance of CDC's acting as a fund of funds and of the need to focus on pro-poor development and the connection between investment and development. Economic growth in its own right will not bring about development if we do not use our investments appropriately, as many hon. Members have pointed out.