Tag Archives: G8

Nick Clegg’s speech at tax and transparency G8 event

Nick Clegg took part in  an “Open for Growth on Trade, Tax and Transparency” G8 event on Saturday. The event was attended by African leaders and the likes of Kofi Annan and the Managing Director of the World Bank Caroline Anstey. Nick hosted the sessionon extractives transparency and chaired the final panel of the day.

He said at the event:

We know why we’re here. People across the world want and expect us – governments, businesses and NGOs – to work together to deliver strong economies and fairer societies.

These issues affect those in both the developed and developing world. And we know

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LibLink: Lynne Featherstone – Gender equality and empowerment are crucial in the fight against world poverty

Make_Poverty_HistoryLynne Featherstone, the International Development Minister, has written an article for The Herald, reflecting on progress since the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005.

She writes:

In 2005, Scotland hosted the G8 in Gleneagles where world leaders made the historic pledge to “Make poverty history”.

Eight years on, the UK is again hosting leaders, this time in Northern Ireland, so it seems appropriate to reflect on how far we’ve come in reaching that goal.

I am particularly proud that we have helped 5.3 million children have a primary school education and will have improved access to

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Clegg on UK and EU relationship with Africa: “more trade, fairer tax and greater business transparency”

Nick Clegg gave a speech at the Africa Jubilee Business Forum which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity. Here are the highlights:

Political rights must go in tandem with economic growth

Everybody, of course, wants growth – the key decision is how you achieve it. More and more African countries face a choice between the economic models of authoritarian capitalism, on the one hand, and liberal democracy, on the other.

In countries like China, authoritarian capitalism argues the case for economic growth ahead of political freedoms. And it’s a seductive argument in view of surging growth

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Martin Horwood MP writes… 1000 days of hunger

The first thousand days of a child’s life – from conception through to their second birthday – are full of moments to cherish. First birthdays, first steps, first words. Whether these events are captured on film, or retold to maximum embarrassment in later years, they are treasured milestones in a child’s life.

A report published yesterday by UNICEF reminds us that those first thousand days aren’t only precious, they are the most critical in shaping a child’s future. Their health, their growth, their ability to learn and even their potential to earn are shaped during this period by one crucial …

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Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “From Eastleigh to Africa – and back again!”

Nick’s latest weekly missive focuses on two places: his visits as party leader to the Lib Dem by-election campaign in Eastleigh, and his visit as Deputy Prime Minister to Mozambique and Ethiopia to focus on ‘the three Ts’ – tax, transparency and trade. Here’s his letter in full…

libdem letter from nick clegg

Like so many of you, I’ve been to Eastleigh this week. I was there to visit a local college with our excellent candidate Mike Thornton on Monday, and after a brief stop off to see the kids, I headed straight

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Stephen Williams MP writes… Making tax taxing again – 2013 is the Year of Tax Justice

“I do believe that as leaders, we all have a common interest in being able to tell our taxpayers who work hard and pay their fair share of taxes, that we will make sure others do the same…But to achieve this will require strong political leadership…I hope we can be ambitious.”
(David Cameron, Prime Minister’s Letter to G8 Leaders, 2 January 2013)

This year the UK holds the Presidency of the G8, with the world’s top leaders coming to Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June. This is a momentous and perfectly timed opportunity to turn public anger, evident around the …

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Nick Clegg writes … A fairer and more prosperous world

Lynne Featherstone in Zambia. Photo:  some rights reserved by DFID http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/8220719712/Lynne Featherstone and I are travelling to Mozambique and Ethiopia this week, which will be my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as Deputy Prime Minister. We will see the changing nature of our relationship with these African countries, as well as the UK’s international development programmes in action.

By working with Mozambique, Ethiopia and other developing countries, we are helping to create a world that is fairer, more prosperous and more secure.

This year the Coalition Government will meet our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on international development – an achievement that comes with much controversy but one I am proud to deliver.

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Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “The G8 summit is also about combining a strong economy with a fair society”

Nick’s first missive of the year to Lib Dem supporters was despatched this weekend, its message combining two stories with the same core message: the role the party and the UK must play in creating a strong economy and a fairer society.

He defends the party’s decision to send a memo to key Lib Dems with key messages for voters, arguing the party has “to be clear, simple and consistent in what we say to voters”. And he argues the G8 summit’s focus on global tax fairness and creating a level-playing field for poorer countries rich in natural resources show the party’s national imperatives playing out at the international level…

libdem letter from nick clegg

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Opinion: 2013 – Time to think afresh about International Development?

Lynne Featherstone in Zambia. Photo:  some rights reserved by DFID http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/8220719712/Another year, another set of attacks on development aid in the right-wing press. Prompted by a spectacularly ill-informed paper from Civitas, the Telegraph, Mail and Spectator tried once again to argue, without evidence, that high proportions of British aid are wasted.

The truth is that, under the Coalition, far more attention has been paid to value for money in aid spending than ever before. What is more, there’s little need to speculate about where

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The Independent View: Should G8 leaders be making a new commitment to reduce hunger?

There are close to a billion people going hungry every day. I find the scale of this hard to imagine, but if I’m honest even the personal experience of going hungry for a day is something I can’t easily relate to. I’m lucky enough to have never really experienced hunger, living as I do in a relatively wealthy country, where even if I were unwell or unemployed the state would support me with basic social protection.

The worst thing about global hunger is that it is an unnecessary injustice. We actually produce enough globally to feed everyone, but people don’t have …

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