French foreign minister spoke of the social goals of lotteries in Belgium and France

A „global lottery“ is among the innovations in financing for development that former French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy recently mentioned to the press.

Given the widely acknowledged regressive nature of raising funds through lotteries, Inner City Press asked Douste-Blazy if a lottery was really the best or most innovative way to try to help the poor. „You mean, on the ethical plane?“ Douste-Blazy asked. Yes, that would be the question.

While agreeing that this is „a real question“, Douste-Blazy spoke of the social goals of lotteries in Belgium and France. „We are working on it,“ he said. And he’s not kidding – „global lottery“ has been mentioned before in this context by the UN, in a report of a panel discussion on „Moving Out Of Aid Dependency“ from November of 2007.

Douste-Blazy also discussed raising funds off airplane tickets, saying there are only three main sites that make reservations over the Internet.