Speakers:

Jim O'Neill
Head of Global Economic Research at Goldman Sachs
Jamal Harwood
Speaker and Writer on Islamic Economics
Dr. Seif el-Din Ibrahim Tag el-Din
Islamic Foundation Economics Research Unit
Mark Curtis
Author and former director of World Development Movement

Chaired By:

Peter Lilley
Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry

• Half the world lives on less than two dollars a day.
• The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants
• 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods
• 51 percent of the world’s 100 hundred wealthiest bodies are corporations
• Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn't happen.
It is probably one of the greatest challenges facing our generation. One in five of the world’s population are living in abject poverty. This is in spite of the fact that resources and materialb are growing aplenty. Some also argue that global poverty also affects the UK’s national interests. Is international crime, the illegal Drugs trade, the spread of HIV/AIDS, war and conflict, or terrorism caused or exacerbated by poverty?