The Netherlands' Prince Willem-Alexander Disagrees With Prince Charles, Says Poverty More Important Than Climate Change

The Netherlands' Prince Willem-Alexander disagrees with Britain's Prince Charles' recent claim that climate change is more important than poverty. The 41-year-old royal told the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul yesterday that poverty should be the world's "highest priority."

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He said: "We all agree that the current financial crisis is unprecedented in our life times and calls for strong, collective measures to secure our economies and safeguard our social systems."

"However, the unanimous commitment made by world leaders in 2000 to fighting world poverty and achieving the millennium development goal targets by 2015 still needs to be followed up seriously and given the highest priority."

Willem-Alexander insists the best way to fight poverty is to ensure everyone has access to clean water and hygienic sanitation systems.

He said: "Lessons from the not so distant past have taught us that investing in social and physical infrastructure like water supply and sanitation will help to reduce poverty, and at the same time create employment and strengthen our economies."

"Only together can we help make this happen to fulfill our mandate to help meet the basic water and sanitation needs of all the people in the world and to bridge the divide between the "haves and have-nots."

The prince also expressed his fears that the world's poorest people would suffer most in the credit crunch. He added: "The financial crisis has turned the world upside down. Everyone is anxious to know what will happen next. I am anxious too, but also what effect the financial crisis will have on the economies of the developing countries."

"How hard will they be hit? We need to work even harder to fulfill our promise. Will the world simply give up because it is harder now? I say, no, we must not give up."