HOLY SEE ON POVERTY ERADICATION, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

VATICAN CITY, JUL 2, 2003 (VIS) - Yesterday in Geneva, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, addressed the United Nations Economic and Social Council on "Promoting an Integrated Approach to Rural Development in Developing Countries for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development."

The archbishop said the meeting was "a momentous occasion for the international community to discuss and address the eradication of poverty and its correlation with sustainable development in rural areas." He highlighted the need for "the establishment of a strong development alliance" which would "recognize that those blessed with economic resources and the power to use them are called in solidarity to address the plight of those who are amongst the most vulnerable." He also stressed that "justice must prevail in the economic world."

The nuncio issued an appeal by the Holy See "for an integrated strategy that would implement a series of generous economic and trade concessions without asking reciprocity, at least in the short term."

Among the elements to be pursued, Archbishop Migliore added, are: "the limitation of overseas economic practices which grant temporary relief but do not invigorate the economies of rural areas so that their inhabitants become active economic and social actors"; new practices which support sustainable development and expansion of family farms' productivity"; and "debt relief to remove burdens that impede the recovery and growth of the economies of developing States."

"The world of today is holding on to a fragile peace," said the nuncio. "Too many people are without hope, are confronted with broken promises, and lose their trust in the effectiveness of regional and international summits. It is the search for a healing of the despair of the poor that must fuel the continuing work of the world community. We cannot allow our work to end here."

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