Euro-Med Movement

Nature and the environment pay no heed to national borders. The distribution of the world's resources is extremely unjust. Over one billion of the planet's six billion people live below the absolute poverty line. A lack of democracy, violation of human rights, the AIDS epidemic, environmental problems and violent conflicts stifle opportunities for development. The so-called free world trade prevents goods from developing countries from reaching western markets.

Yet the planet is no longer clearly divided into a rich north and an impoverished south. Some previously poor countries are generating increased welfare and prosperity for much of their population. They are making economic, democratic and cultural progress. At the same time we see that countries with a high level of prosperity also have large groups of poor people and individuals who have been given no place in their society.

Internationally there is a need for a major increase in development aid efforts. The efforts to reduce the poor countries' debts to the rich must be stepped up. However, the actual basis for growth and a fair distribution of resources lies in the poor countries' own economies and in their use of resources. Therefore, it is important that developing countries be given access to our markets in an equivalent way, and that we create more stable conditions in the world economy through increased co-operation.