Clinton and Hunter in drive to end African poverty

Published on Saturday 15 July 2006 02:11

BILL Clinton, the former president of the United States, yesterday launched an anti-poverty initiative with Sir Tom Hunter, the Scottish entrepreneur.

The Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative has set aside an initial $100 million (54 million) for projects in Malawi and Rwanda.

The money will go into education, health, infrastructure, agriculture and entrepreneurial support.

Speaking in Lilongwe, in Malawi, Mr Clinton said he was excited by the collaboration with the chairman of the Hunter Foundation.

He said: "Working with governments, we hope to create a unified programme in Malawi and Rwanda.

"We will be saving lives, reducing poverty and directly contributing to growth in income per capita at the same time."

Sir Tom, the philanthropist and retail magnate ranked by Forbes magazine as the 548th richest person in the world, said: "We will apply critical business principles and a private-sector mentality to implement an approach that will enable economic development by supporting the cornerstone needs of the two countries in market development, health, education and water and sanitation."

Mr Clinton took the opportunity to urge African governments to encourage people to take voluntary AIDS tests, saying it was the only way that newly-available drugs would have an impact on the epidemic.

He added: "People living with HIV and AIDS can live a normal life if they go for testing to know their status. We'll bring the medicine and it does not matter at what cost but how many lives will be saved and changed."