The Ministerial team at the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has placed growth at the heart of its vision for international development.

Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP, UK Secretary of State for International Development said:

"Developing countries have long argued the importance of growth for lifting their people out of poverty. And we in the development community should not forget that, ultimately, we exist to work ourselves out of business - and the best way to do that will be to encourage growth and trade."
(ODI/APGOOD event, 11 October 2007)

Achieving economic growth is essential for securing long-term development and poverty reduction: no country has succeeded in sustainably reducing poverty in the absence of growth.

Recent volatility in global markets has focused our attention on growth prospects in the world’s richest countries. But it also serves to emphasise the importance of putting in place the right conditions to facilitate long-term, sustainable growth in the developing world, which is needed to pull millions of people out of poverty.

Growth is however, a complex and multi-dimensional subject which encompasses a huge range of issues, and while some aspects of the growth agenda are well-understood, others are more contested.

This ODI and All Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development (APGOOD) meeting series will respond to the Ministerial challenge to push growth up the development agenda, and will tackle some of the questions it raises. Influential policymakers and commentators on both side of the debate will be presenting their views.