Fr Shay meets Dr Gerd Müller, Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development
March 10, 2015 ·
Fr Shay with Dr Gerd Müller, Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development.
Kempton, Germany: On March 7, 2015 in Kempton, the historic and one of the oldest towns of Germany, the Engagement-Global conference was held at the University. The main speaker was Dr. Gerd Müller, Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (Bundesminister Fur wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung).
His speech covered the new, more dynamic progressive thinking in the government regarding international cooperation and development. He also discussed the urgent issues of human rights, inequality and the root causes of poverty. “It is a priority to get greater levels of engagement and co-operation between the duty bearers and civil society in developing countries,” Dr. Müller said.
He pointed out the poverty and conflicts of the world are bringing the millions of migrants into the North and the root causes in underdevelopment and conflict have to be addressed. He also mentioned the impact of climate change and the impact on poor countries and the problem of hunger that has to be solved.
Fr Shay giving his closing remarks speech.
“This is a world where there are mountains of wasted food especially in the developed countries,” he said. “Of great concern is the damage to the oceans by the billions of tons of plastic especially plastic bottles. There are islands of plastic floating in the oceans.”
The mayor of Kempton also spoke about the importance of Fair Trade and the hope that Kempton will be recognized as a Fair Trade town in the near future.
