Church leaders have stood by aid agencies this week by urging the British government to change its stance on international trade after the recent publication of the Commission for Africa Report.
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair has admitted that the poverty condition in Africa is the "biggest moral challenge of our generation", but the Bishop of Chelmsford, Rev John Gladwin responded to the statement by saying that the big political statements had to be backed by action.
Commission for Africa is a government-backed project, and in its recent report it called for an alteration to the way in which the world’s rich nations and the African nations relate to each other. In particular, a call was made for something to be done regarding climate change, which the report stated has a dramatic impact on the African continent.
The chairman of Christian Aid, Bishop Gladwin in a speech to the House of Lords told that the government should not presume that "a general globalised and liberalised economy" would be satisfactory to Africa’s requirements.
In addition, Christian Aid’s Head of Policy, Charles Aburge urged the British government to change its policies if they were in contrast to the Commission’s report.
Currently Britain holds a policy of encouraging African countries to open up their markets, and in return they would be able to trade their goods on the European markets. However, the report stated that the African countries had to have the choice of where to open their markets based on their individual development and poverty reduction plans.
The Commission stated, "The EU must ensure that Economic Partnership Agreements support development needs. This means not forcing poor countries to liberalise."
