World finance leaders meeting to discuss next month’s G20 summit and thrash out the global economic crisis have been sent a clear message 
from my MEP Robert Sturdy – and I totally endorse every word.
In today’s Guardian, he has had a letter published stating that the global poor must be the G20 priority:
The G20 summit has the opportunity to make it clear that short-term aid and declarations against protectionism will not be enough. The agricultural commodity markets are perhaps some of the most fluid and volatile, the developing world needs to shift its economic base swiftly. The real victims of the developed world’s trade and aid policies are the poorer nations’ entrepreneurs who find themselves incapable of developing new industries, particularly as creditors shy away, back to nations whose governments are offering guarantees. The government has thrown a huge amount of taxpayers’ money at the economic crisis in the UK with questionable results. We must ensure that if we are sending more of our money overseas, it achieves real results to help poorer nations help themselves out of the crisis.
If the recession is terrifying for us, this fear is magnified in lesser developed countries who will suffer much worse. And it is a bitter injustice for them considering it was the developed world which created this mess.
I know it will sound small minded of me Ellie but I’m a realist.
Our politicians are simply there to represent the interests of their own people in a cruel world.
The fact that I think Britain is going to join the Third World is because politicians have forgotten this.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=16515589
Totally off topic. I used to play guitar with this guy in a band. Finding this film reel knocked my socks off. I just had to find someone to show it to.
😉
In such a large meeting as the G20, it looks too big for a solution to be addressed.
In fact there now are more global poor than in recent years, and I don’t just mean us spoilt fat cats who can’t face a little advesity in our lifestyles.
Thank You for posting this Ellie. Just before this summit takes place there is going to be a big march in London where the message is put the people first. Unfortunately I had already committed to another engagement so I won’t be able to take part.
This has been on my list of posts to do, I really must do it over the weekend!
Hi Cherry Pie, like minds, hey?
It’s all very well to encourage cash crops in Africa but later to back off,. claiming it’s not a green policy…
[…] Ellee has a really good post on this issue too. […]