At most, Mr. Chairman, I would have agreed to have my amendment begin after the semi-colon, which would have given the following:
(a) contributes to poverty reduction, notably by taking into account the various factors underlying poverty, including health, education and equality;
I have the advantage here today of having read this bill in my office, since I did not participate in any of your other discussions. I wondered what an outsider's reference point would be.
Poverty reduction includes many components. I mentioned the Millennium goals earlier, because very clear goals were established for eradicating poverty. Agencies, NGOs and officials are fighting to have recognized that in order to reduce poverty, it's important first and foremost to be able to provide health care, to educate people and to achieve gender equality.
I would ask my colleagues to at least agree to include after the words “poverty reduction”, the words “health, education and equality”, so that this bill makes sense to the average person who reads it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.