AT a public meeting organised by local churches this week, I met people concerned about world affairs and poverty.

We talked about, amongst other things, fair trade, arms control, debt relief and the current Iraq crisis.

In July last year, the Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the biggest ever rise in UK aid of £1.5 billion towards our target of 0.7 per cent of national income and more than double the ratio of the other major developed countries.

However, aid is no longer simply a sticking plaster solution to an immediate crisis but must now be used to build for the long term.

That means education, health care and democracy must be developed as a base from which a nation can recover.

Fair trade and access to markets are also crucial to the ability of a country to feed and educate its people and keep them healthy.

We cannot claim to champion the cause of developing countries but deny them the chance to trade their way to prosperity.

In Europe, we opened up our markets to the 49 poorest countries in the world but still we have a system of subsidies that makes many imports uncompetitive.

The subsidy system must be reformed but it will not be easy.

Meanwhile, the drawn-out diplomatic manouverings over Iraq continue to dominate the headlines.

In my view, Iraq is as guilty as anyone in playing diplomatic games as the inspection process continues.

The requirement on Iraq in 1991 was to disarm in weeks and to show that it had.

The inspectors are there to verify, not drive this process.

That is what the Iraqi regime is required to do. The issue is not how much more time (after 12 years) to give inspections but whether there is a positive will in Iraq to comply.

The evidence is, I am afraid, that Iraq offers grudging concessions timed to divide the international community and to delay the process as much as possible.

I am still hopeful the Iraqi regime will change its ways but this needs to happen quickly or the international community will be faced with a tough decision - act now or risk any future calls for reform of dictatorial regimes being greeted with derision.