That this House welcomes the United Kingdom Government's commitment to tackling African poverty in 2005; notes that changes in trade rules to ensure trade justice are vital to achieving poverty reduction in developing countries, particularly in Africa; notes with concern that current proposals by the European Commission for free trade areas with Africa through economic partnership agreements could lead to the liberalisation of 90 per cent. of African trade over 12 years, including agricultural products; further notes with concern that the European Commission is refusing to talk about its own Common Agricultural Policy in these talks; further notes that economic partnership agreements may undermine Africa's own regional trade integration; further notes that Europe is including issues in these talks that have been rejected by those African countries at the World Trade Organisation; and calls on the United Kingdom Government to lead the way for changes in the Commission's negotiating mandate to take account of these concerns and take an important step towards trade justice by fulfilling its own commitments to provide alternative forms of market access into the EU to those African countries which do not want to sign up to economic partnership agreements.

That this House welcomes the United Kingdom Government's commitment to tackling African poverty in 2005; notes that changes in trade rules to ensure trade justice are vital to achieving poverty reduction in developing countries, particularly in Africa; notes with concern that current proposals by the European Commission for free trade...

That this House urges the Government to introduce legislation to amend drug patent laws to enable companies to supply cheaper, generic-brand treatments to developing nations in the war against AIDS, following the unanimous WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health of August 2003, encouraging member countries to relax patent restrictions; recognises the need to make medical treatment available to the untold millions suffering from deadly infectious diseases, notably HIV/AIDS, in the least developed areas of the world and especially in the poorest countries of Africa; and acknowledges that greater steps can in fact be taken, as recent legislation proposed by the Canadian Government demonstrates, to advance these crucial health and development objectives while also respecting the intellectual property rights of the pharmaceutical industry.

That this House urges the Government to introduce legislation to amend drug patent laws to enable companies to supply cheaper, generic-brand treatments to developing nations in the war against AIDS, following the unanimous WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health of August 2003, encouraging member...

That this House welcomes the recent national initiatives relating to the treatment of epilepsy; calls on the Government to recognise the need for additional epilepsy-specific measures to enable local implementation of those initiatives; believes that without such measures people with epilepsy will remain exposed to a risk of misdiagnosis by non-specialists, possibly as high as 20 to 25 per cent., as highlighted by the Holton Inquiry; and notes that such people will also be at risk of sudden death in epilepsy and will lack access to many basic choices that lead to a good quality of life.

That this House welcomes the recent national initiatives relating to the treatment of epilepsy; calls on the Government to recognise the need for additional epilepsy-specific measures to enable local implementation of those initiatives; believes that without such measures people with epilepsy will remain exposed to a risk of misdiagnosis by...

That this House notes that good progress has been made in the last decade on a United Kingdom arms exports policy that balances a country's legitimate right to self-defence with a moral duty to ensure that British arms are not used to harm innocent civilians; further notes, though, there is still more that can be done to promote a more effective and a more responsible policy that takes into account British interests and also those of the recipient country; recognises that the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) subsidised insurance cover for arms sales, and encourages both arms companies and recipient countries to pursue arms sales that may not otherwise be economically viable and which can negatively impact on the sustainable development of the recipient countries; welcomes the Government's productive expenditure criteria for ECGD cover to Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC countries) and believes that an extension of these productive expenditure criteria for arms sales from just the HIPC countries to all International Development Association (IDA) countries would dissuade recipient countries from taking on unsustainable debt and so provide them with more resources to tackle poverty; and therefore calls on the Government to extend the ECGD productive expenditure criteria for arms sales from just the HIPC countries to all IDA countries.

That this House notes that good progress has been made in the last decade on a United Kingdom arms exports policy that balances a country's legitimate right to self-defence with a moral duty to ensure that British arms are not used to harm innocent civilians; further notes, though, there is...

That this House notes that licences for arms export to International Development Association (IDA) countries are currently granted by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; welcomes the Second Joint Report of the Quadripartite Committee on 20th May 2003, HC 474, and its recommendations on strategic export controls for arms exports; believes that whilst arms exports can provide security for IDA countries, they can also, in certain cases, hinder the sustainable development of IDA countries and their efforts to tackle and alleviate poverty; recognises that the Department for International Development is responsible for promoting sustainable development; and so resolves that arms licences to all IDA countries should be granted jointly by the Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry and for International Development to ensure that both departments' policies of trade and development are working hand in hand for the benefit of Britain and its global neighbours.

That this House notes that licences for arms export to International Development Association (IDA) countries are currently granted by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; welcomes the Second Joint Report of the Quadripartite Committee on 20th May 2003, HC 474, and its recommendations on strategic export controls for...

That this House welcomes the commitment by international institutions and the United Kingdom Government to the Millennium Development Goals, including the goal of halving the proportion of the world's population living in absolute poverty by 2015; notes with extreme concern the warnings of the United Nations, World Bank and others that without significantly increased development assistance many countries will not meet these goals, and that pledges made as part of the Financing for Development process represent positive but insufficient progress towards making the necessary resources available; congratulates Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for achieving the United Nations 0.7 per cent. target, and Ireland, Belgium and France for setting clear timetables for reaching the target by 2007, 2010 and 2012 respectively; acknowledges recent progress in the United Kingdom in increasing aid, including the commitment to raise the United Kingdom aid budget to 0.4 per cent. of GDP by 2006 as well as proposals for an International Financing Facility to leverage additional resources of up to $50 billion; believes that the United Kingdom Government should continue to lead by example and therefore calls on the United Kingdom Government to use the 2004 Spending Review to set out a timetable for reaching the United Nations target, in response to the member organisations of BOND calling on the United Kingdom to spend 0.7 per cent. of GDP on overseas development assistance by 2008.

That this House welcomes the commitment by international institutions and the United Kingdom Government to the Millennium Development Goals, including the goal of halving the proportion of the world's population living in absolute poverty by 2015; notes with extreme concern the warnings of the United Nations, World Bank and others...

That this House believes that the negative effects of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, especially its export subsidies on farm livelihoods in developing countries are all out of proportion to the benefits it brings to British and European farmers; accepts that changes in the overall cost of the CAP are unlikely to be achieved in the medium term; and therefore urges the Government to continue to press for a more rapid phasing out of export subsidies and reform and redistribution of the CAP towards small farmers, the environment and rural livelihoods.

That this House believes that the negative effects of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, especially its export subsidies on farm livelihoods in developing countries are all out of proportion to the benefits it brings to British and European farmers; accepts that changes in the overall cost of the CAP are...

That this House notes the extent of debt amongst those on a low income with over three million people entering into debt on their doorstep through extortionate lending; believes tackling debt and financial exclusion must be given priority in the Government's anti-poverty strategy; and calls for coordination of the current fragmentary approach setting departmental policies and actions within complementary strategies to tackle financial exclusion and eradicate poverty, focusing on reforming the Social Fund, tackling extortionate lending and promoting affordable credit through credit unions.

That this House notes the extent of debt amongst those on a low income with over three million people entering into debt on their doorstep through extortionate lending; believes tackling debt and financial exclusion must be given priority in the Government's anti-poverty strategy; and calls for coordination of the current...

That this House welcomes the Trade Justice Campaign and the repeated commitments made by Her Majesty's Government to make trade rules fairer and to reform the World Trade Organisation; notes the increasing public concern about the impact of current international trade rules on poor communities, the environment and democracy, and the extension of trade rules in negotiations launched in Doha last November; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to use the opportunities presented by the EU Heads of Government meeting and G8 Summit, the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development and the WTO negotiations to take a lead in reforming international trade rules so that they place as their highest priorities the fight against global poverty and the promotion of sustainable development.

That this House welcomes the Trade Justice Campaign and the repeated commitments made by Her Majesty's Government to make trade rules fairer and to reform the World Trade Organisation; notes the increasing public concern about the impact of current international trade rules on poor communities, the environment and democracy, and...

That this House welcomes the commitment by international institutions and the UK Government to the goal of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015; notes with extreme concern the warnings of the World Bank and others that without significantly increased development assistance many countries will fail these goals; recognises that the economic consequences of the tragic events of 11th September will have severe and adverse impacts on developing countries; draws attention to the fact that the countries of sub-Saharan Africa already lag far behind other developing nations in poverty reduction and will need greater sustained assistance to achieve their development goals; applauds the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark for consistently achieving the UN 0.7 per cent. GNP target over many years, and congratulates Luxembourg for achieving the target in 2000 and Portugal and Ireland for setting dates to achieve the target, in 2006 and 2007 respectively; believes that successful poverty reduction is an essential foundation of stability in an increasingly globalised world and that the UK's advocacy with other donors that lag behind the 0.7 per cent. target will be significantly enhanced if we lead by example; and therefore calls on the Government to make a firm commitment to achieve the UN 0.7 per cent. target for overseas development assistance by 2012 and adopt an intermediate target of 0.4 per cent. by 2006.

That this House welcomes the commitment by international institutions and the UK Government to the goal of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015; notes with extreme concern the warnings of the World Bank and others that without significantly increased development assistance many countries will fail...