Meeting on how to promote development to be held at the Vatican

Vatican City, Jul 6, 2004 / 22:00 pm

On July 9 in the office of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in the Vatican, an international study seminar will take place on poverty and globalization during which the topic of funds for development in light of the Millennium Development Goals will be examined.

Representatives from the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as well as from governments, Catholic Non-governmental Organizations and local churches will participate in the meeting.

According to a statement published today, the themes that will be studied during the meeting are: the situation of international debt today, innovative proposals for financing, especially the English initiative "International  Finance Facility (IFF) whose objective is to collect funds totaling an additional $50 billion per year in order to achieve the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals from now to 2015, by issuing bonds in international markets.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, archbishop of Westminster, England, will introduce the morning session which will be presided by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, who also headed the Holy See Delegation to the United Nations International Conference in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002.

In the afternoon session, presided over by Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, proposals will be made in order to form a "coalition of aid and promotion for financing development."