Vatican City (Fides Service) - "Unless development reaches all peoples it cannot be effective, because it deprives itself of the contribution of many and because zones of underdevelopment are, in the long run, cause of imbalance and they nullify the positive dynamics of development itself". This was said by Archbishop Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council Justice and Peace in an address on Economy, ethics and sustainable development in Rome on Saturday 5 April during a celebration promoted by the Foundation named after Don Luigi Di Legro, on what would have been the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of the late director of Caritas Rome.
In his intervention Archbishop Martino underlined that "to be sustainable development must strike a balance between economic, social and environmental objectives. This in order to guarantee wellbeing of today without endangering that of future generations". Highlighting that the uprooting of poverty is a crucial component of sustainable development, Mons Martino indicated as a positive sign of our times the importance given in the international community to the struggle against poverty. After recalling the principle so dear to John Paul II of globalisation of solidarity, the President of the PC Justice and Peace focussed on ways to achieve this essential aspect of globalisation: find solutions to the question of the international debt of poor countries, in a way that this does not undermine Public Help for Development; restore balance in international trade, removing barriers of protectionism, because in the world today trade, development and struggle to eliminate poverty are all closely connected; overcome obstacles to transferral of the necessary knowledge connected with technological progress of rich countries, which have it, to poor countries with absolute priority for initiatives regarding education and health care.
At the end of his intervention the Archbishop mentioned the serious problem of water shortage, which in 25 years time will affect about half the world's population. In the struggle to eliminate poverty, water plays a vital role. At the 3rd World Water Forum held recently in Kyoto in Japan, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace presented a document on the subject. (See document in English at www.fides.org) SL (Fides Service 7/4/2003 EM lines 31 Words: 386)