Thus, in proposing to abolish the GST on diapers, I want to give families with young children a way to decrease the cost of certain purchases, such as diapers for their children.

8. Welcomes the commitment of the Commission to finance and implement well-targeted technical assistance to promote sustainable rural development in developing countries; points to the priority for training and education, as well as improved access to land and natural resources for those parts of the population most in need; insists that priority for this technical aid should lie with food security measures of the respective country and region;

4. Calls upon the Council to review regularly progress in policy coherence and insists that the Commission implement the requested policies, as well as broadening the range of areas under consideration to include agriculture, trade, the environment, culture, health and especially to the area of education and training with the aim of guaranteeing access to basic education to all layers of the population, thereby contributing to breaking the poverty cycle;

Policies to combat poverty should take the following into consideration: (i) An integrated, long-term approach The need for an integrated, long-term approach concerning all development instruments forming a part of a consistent strategy, as provided for in Article 130v and the second paragraph of Article C of the Treaty on European Union (ii) Priorities The necessary priority to be given in this field to the least- advanced countries and the most deprived sections of the population of the developing countries (iii) Political nature The political and economic nature of the causes of poverty (iv) Dialogue on policies The importance of the dialogue on policies between the authorities of donor ...[+++] countries and the authorities of recipient countries in order to ensure that the objective of reducing poverty is taken into account in the formulation and implementation of all their programmes (v) Definition of policies Support as a priority for policies to combat poverty in countries in which the principles and objectives of the national strategy correspond to the general guidelines defined by the Council, including in this Resolution; that objective will have to be reconciled with the importance of helping development partners define and introduce valid policies to combat poverty (vi) Participation of populations Essential participation of beneficiary populations in the political process and in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of development programmes and projects (vii) Differentiated approach The varying nature of poverty problems from one country to another and the need to adopt a differentiated approach defined at national level; such differentiation might also be necessary within a country, in rural and urban areas, depending on local circumstances, even though the fight against poverty could generally speaking best be carried out at national level (viii) Targeting The importance of adequate targeting of intervention on the poorest or most vulnerable group ...

- 5 - II. CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE FUTURE The Commission feels that it would be highly appropriate for the Community to improve measures involving food in favour of the least well off section of the population, along the lines of the operation implemented earlier this year.

After a preliminary examination the Commission announced in June 1992 (see IP(92)496) that, although it would not object to the PG-FATER joint venture in the adult incontinence and the feminine hygiene products, it could not however view the operation positively because of the continued growth of the PG share in the baby nappies market.