Aid policy seen as unjust

Press, 24 February 1977, Page 3

Aid policy seen as unjust

“The Press” had ignored the original point he made that New Zealand had no right to increase aid in order Ito keep the Island nations of; ithe South Pacific within itsi sphere of influence, said Mr! J. Fergusson, a Corso spokes-! .man yesterday, replying tola leading article in "The! Press,” on February 19. “Irrespective of what other! Western countries do with their aid, we are responsible for New Zealand's actions., and first must ensure that! they are just. Ideally, aid is not given for charitable rea-l sens, or to gain political ad-j vantage, but out of a sensei of justice and the dignity of; man. “I dispute yesterday’s! statement that ‘Although l New Zealand’s foreign aid! was reduced in the last Bud-; get—in recognition of the! balance-of-payments crisis—: it must still be one of the; highest in the world if mea-> sured against average per-! sonal incomes.’ It is also sig-; nificant that multi-lateral aid. j the least tied of all aid, bore! the brunt of cuts in New Zea-!' land’s aid in 1976-77. Of the! SSIM, 12 per cent was alio-! cated to multi-lateral agen- i

iicies, a reduction from the; J 11975-76 figure of 26.5 per tjeent,” Mr Fergusson said, n “If aid continues to be Hallocated with the interests; 5 1 of the donor country remain-; 1 ! ing paramount, then we can I ' i look forward to the second ■ h development decade being; ‘ an even bigger failure than! 1 the first. "The hard reality is that; ' after three decades of aid. 1 ; the gap between the rich and! poor people between and: within countries is wider. It; iis because our relationships ! with developing countries are ] 'based solely on our own ; national self interest—aid, ! I trade, migrants, tariffs —that; ! we see no improvement in the j ! basic situation of the major-, I ity of the world’s people,” ! ; Mr Fergusson said. 1 “What we need is a radic-! ; ally new approach to aid.: j where the interests of the; ! poor are paramount, and the 1 main criterion for funding is j that the recipients fully participate and become self re-j I iiant. New Zealand could; i take a lead here, instead of ; continuing to align itself ; with the policies of narrow • self interest and failure.” 1,