The Financial Times reports (10 April 2006):
Gordon Brown earmarked $15bn (£8.6bn) of future British aid spending for education in some of the world’s poorest countries Monday, on a trip to Africa intended to urge western nations to commit similar sums.
The chancellor arrived in Mozambique on Monday morning for talks with African leaders and finance ministers as well as Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa.
“In 2005, ‘Make Poverty History’ forced governments to make promises on aid,” Mr Brown said at a visit to a school in Mozambique. “Now, in 2006 it is time for us to keep our promises.”
The UK’s commitment involves a step change in British aid spending over the coming decade and means that the Department for International Development will be one of only a few winners in the next Whitehall spending round.
