Advocacy International attended President Chirac’s high-level conference on Innovative Financing for development in Paris.
Led by France, a number of countries, including Chile and Brazil, have agreed to institute a levy on the sale of airline tickets in order to raise funds for anti-poverty programmes. Some other countries including the UK and Denmark already raise funds through a duty on airline tickets. France’s levy is due to start in July 2006 and is expected to raise up to EUR 200 million annually. It is hoped that other countries will follow suit in implementing an airline ticket tax and divert some of the proceeds to funding for development.
This innovative financing mechanism has now been linked with a joint French, Brazilian, Chilean concept for an International Drug Purchase Facility (IDPF) to direct increased funds to the development and production of high quality, low-cost drugs to fight disease in low-income countries. This mechanism should benefit recipient countries with an uninterrupted supply of quality assured drugs at reduced cost. This can be achieved by providing pharmaceutical companies with a sustainable and predictable stream of funding to guide production and guarantee orders. Click here for media coverage of the airline solidarity levy (link to story in Deutsche Welle). Read more about the AST and the IDPf on the French Foreign Affairs Ministry website.
