UN Annan Addresses G8 Poverty Issues at St Paul’s Cathedral London

The United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan, who delivered an address on Tuesday, the day before the G8 summit at St Paul's Cathedral in London, has encouraged world leaders to take actions against poverty. More than 2,500 people attended this meeting.

In the midst of fear and anxiety after yesterday’s terrorist attacks hit the London Underground network, G8 leaders in the summit vowed to defeat terrorism and to uphold their commitment in solving the world’s poverty problem.

The event, entitled "Global Poverty: A Challenge to the G8", also included presentations by the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, and the Rt Hon Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Annan commented that Chancellor Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair are "two of the great global leaders of our time" because of their work on debt relief and development issues".

In addition, he expressed an appreciation to the high-profile anti-poverty effort now taking place in England, where government, citizens, civil society, business, media, Make Poverty History campaigners and the United Nations are all working towards the common goal of poverty eradication.

"That," he said, "is something you do not often see in a lifetime."

Once again, Annan highlighted the urgency of solving the problem of poverty in the world. He said that conditions in many of the world's poorest countries are worsening over the past 15 years. Approximately one billion people, he said, live below the extreme poverty line.

Therefore, according to Annan, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set up by the United Nations to be achieved by 2015 has exceptionally high potential to transform the world. He explained that MDGs, are more advanced, compared to any other development policies in the world, because it is "people centred, time-bound and measurable" with "unprecedented political support".

Concluding with a brief reference to William Wordsworth, Annan said, "'we who are strong in love,'" must be remembered by history as "the ones who really did make poverty history."

The speech of the Chancellor Gordon Brown followed, who called the audience at St Paul's that were drawn from "all churches, all faiths all denominations" - "our modern heroes."

Brown quoted the words of Martin Luther King, saying "All of us can be great, because all of us can serve."

The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, spoke on the role that faith communities can play in the movement to eradicate poverty.

"Wealthy nations, he said, must "reign back our desire for more and more." Bishop Chartres urged students and young people to consider how they might best use their gifts. He encouraged youth, and everyone, to "overcome the inertia of selfishness".

He said the Make Poverty History campaign "one of those spiritual journeys in which we discover that, the more we go beyond our own comfort zones, the more we are enriched by those who may be poor but, in reality, quickly become our teachers".

The event was sponsored by the St Paul’s Cathedral Institution. The exterior of the dome of the Cathedral was wrapped by a gigantic banner proclaimed: "MAKE POVERTY HISTORY".