{"id":47934,"date":"2014-09-24T22:23:07","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T22:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=92cc202cbdb20c73f1714bbe96437d83"},"modified":"2014-09-24T22:23:07","modified_gmt":"2014-09-24T22:23:07","slug":"speech-i-passionately-believe-that-the-new-goals-need-to-be-simple-inspiring-and-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=47934","title":{"rendered":"Speech: "I passionately believe that the new goals need to be simple, inspiring and relevant""},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I\u2019m delighted to co-host this event with two great partners in the fight against poverty.<\/p>\n

President Mahama of Ghana who has led the way on extractives transparency in his country.<\/p>\n

And Transparency International, who have been leading the fight against corruption across the world.<\/p>\n

The task ahead of us is to replace the Millennium Development Goals.<\/p>\n

I passionately believe that the new goals need to be simple, inspiring and relevant.<\/p>\n

Simple means no more than 12 goals.<\/p>\n

I appreciate the work that the Open Working Group has put in and I know from my own experience of the High Level Panel how difficult it is to balance all the competing demands of different nations.<\/p>\n

But frankly the draft goals as they stand just don\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n

17 is too many.<\/p>\n

Too many to communicate effectively.<\/p>\n

Too many to inspire and rally people.<\/p>\n

And too many to use as a guide for prioritising action.<\/p>\n

If we end up with 17 goals there is a real danger that they will just end up sitting on a bookshelf gathering dust.<\/p>\n

So we need to simplify and prioritise.<\/p>\n

Inspiring means eradicating absolute poverty by 2030.<\/p>\n

This is why we are creating these goals\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026to see through our vision of a world without poverty.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is ambitious.<\/p>\n

But there is absolutely no point spending months and months negotiating a new set of goals\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026if what we are actually doing is finding reasons to water down the level of ambition we are all here to deliver.<\/p>\n

$ 1.25 per day. That\u2019s what absolutely poverty is.<\/p>\n

We know how many people live in it.<\/p>\n

We know how to beat it.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s pledge it \u2013 and do it.<\/p>\n

Relevant means they have got to deal with the underlying issues keeping so many countries and people locked in poverty.<\/p>\n

That means we have to take on corruption and work to establish what I call the golden thread of conditions that enable open economies and open societies to thrive.<\/p>\n

These include the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary..<\/p>\n

\u2026free media and association\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026good governance and the presence of property rights.<\/p>\n

In short, the foundations for the sustained economic growth that lifts countries out of poverty.<\/p>\n

And the best way to destroy the pernicious culture of corruption that stifles growth and corrodes the contract between state and citizen.<\/p>\n

Why do I say this?<\/p>\n

Let me give you five reasons why we can\u2019t ignore corruption.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s what people around the world are telling us really matters.<\/p>\n

When I was Chairing the High Level Panel we sought views from all around the world.<\/p>\n

4 million people told the United Nations that an \u201chonest and responsive government\u201d is one of their top development priorities.<\/p>\n

Millions more have taken to the streets against corruption.<\/p>\n

We should listen to them.<\/p>\n

Second, the evidence is there for everyone to see.<\/p>\n

On every indicator of poverty \u2013 whether it\u2019s children dying before the age of 5, girls missing out on education or women dying in childbirth\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u2026the statistics are clear: the more corruption in your society, the poorer your people are.<\/p>\n

Third, the broad sweep of history shows that a nation\u2019s prosperity is not determined by its geography, its climate, its people\u2019s ethnicity or its religion.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s determined by the openness and accountability of its government and the strength of its institutions.<\/p>\n

Consider North and South Korea.<\/p>\n

Two countries side by side, but who couldn\u2019t be further apart.<\/p>\n

South Korea a beacon of light, literally and metaphorically. The fourth largest economy in Asia. Its teenagers second in the world for reading. A hub for global business where average life expectancy is a staggering 81. <\/p>\n

Just next door in North Korea, living standards are amongst the lowest in the world, disease is rife, almost a quarter of children are severely malnourished and average life expectancy is almost 15 years lower.<\/p>\n

And we know why this difference exists.<\/p>\n

South Korea is an open, vibrant market economy that is underpinned by an open, vibrant successful democracy. A place where people have a say in the future of their nation.<\/p>\n

North Korea is a closed, backward economy, underpinned by a closed, corrupt, secretive dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Decisions taken behind closed doors, mostly by the grandsons of those who were taking them 70 years ago.<\/p>\n

Fourth, think about how many problems come back to the presence of corruption and the absence of justice.<\/p>\n

Why do so many countries find their governments simply can\u2019t deliver the things their people need? Corruption<\/p>\n

Why did people in Afghanistan turn to the Taleban?<\/p>\n

In large part, because they couldn\u2019t get access to justice from their own government. Corruption.<\/p>\n

Why in too many cases does aid not get through to the people who need it most?<\/p>\n

The answer: corruption<\/p>\n

Why do so many countries with massive mineral wealth have rich elites and large numbers in grinding poverty?<\/p>\n

The answer: corruption<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need to be a social scientist to see how important this is.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that we have a specific goal on honest and responsive government.<\/p>\n

Fifth, corruption is not just a problem for developing countries. <\/p>\n

We know that in many cases it is lawyers and accountants in the West who collude in the corruption that holds developing countries back.<\/p>\n

That is why at the G8 in Lough Erne last year I made transparency a central element of our agenda.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re working towards common global standards of transparency in extractive industries to help end the scandal of people in power looting billions of dollars.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re demanding greater transparency over the ownership of companies to stop corrupt officials, oligarchs and money launderers from plundering a country\u2019s wealth with impunity.<\/p>\n

The UK is well placed to make this argument.<\/p>\n

We have kept our promises on aid, meeting the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of our GNI on aid.<\/p>\n

So we have earned the right to talk about what is keeping people poor.<\/p>\n

I say: just as denying people access to food causes starvation.<\/p>\n

So denying them access to justice starves them of a future.<\/p>\n

And I know that some people don\u2019t want to include these issues in the goals.<\/p>\n

I say: don\u2019t let them get away with it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s Remarks to the Transparency International Post 2015 High-Level event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}