Chinese and British finance ministers Friday issued a joint statement on global development, calling on the international community to fulfill the commitments they made in Monterrey in 2002 on aid, debt relief and trade.

According to the statement, which was issued by Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing and his British counterpart Gordon Brown, the international community should also set urgent targets to increase their official development assistance to 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product.

2005 is a critical year for the international community, which will see the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN and the Bretton Woods Institutions, said the two ministers.

"The year will also witness the Millennium Review Summit at the UN and the WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, China, which will assess the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Doha Development Round respectively."

In 2005, China and the UK hold the Presidencies of the Group 20 and Group 7 (the seven industrialized nations), respectively.

"World leaders committed in 2000 to meet the MDGs by 2015. But progress so far has been too slow and uneven," according to the statement.

"In advance of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings, which are a key step in making progress on this agenda, China and the UK recognize that meeting the MDGs is vital for sustainable economic growth and poverty elimination. Progress on meeting the MDGs is therefore one of the key elements of the G20 and G7's agendas in 2005."

According to the statement, constraints on financing for development are a major obstacle toward meeting the MDGs as scheduled. To meet this challenge, the international community should set urgent targets to meet the 0.7 percent official development assistance.

The finance ministers said even with an international commitment to 0.7 percent, there would be an unacceptable delay in raising the required resources.

They agreed that innovative financing mechanisms for development are therefore very important for relieving the constraint on development financing.

"China supports the International Financial Facility (IFF) proposed by the UK. Both China and the UK welcome, and are committed to exploring, the other proposals related to increasing financing resources for development." 

The two ministers said action is also needed to ensure that international aid is provided in the most effective way, and donors should target aid on the poorest countries.

They urged all countries to support and enhance efforts and initiatives, such as untying aid, to make aid more effective.

The two ministers recognized that the top priority for trade is to achieve an ambitious outcome to the Doha development round which delivers real benefits to developing countries, saying China and the UK will work together to achieve this. 

They said developed countries should also encourage knowledge and technology transfer to developing countries. 

They stressed the importance of removing barriers to developing country exports in the developed world, including unfair subsidies and tariffs, especially in agriculture.

"We call on the international community to invest in the capacity and infrastructure that developing countries need in order to take advantage of the opportunities for more open trade," the statement says.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2005)