G8 countries state common approach to African aid, climate change
Regional, Politics, 7/9/2005

Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations agreed to effectively double assistance to Africa, advance peace in the Middle East through Palestinian aid, and establish a plan of action to combat global climate change.

The July 6-8 meeting at the Scottish golf resort of Gleneagles in the United Kingdom brought together U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and U.S. President Bush.

At the conclusion of the summit, the G8 released a communique detailing their common approach to Africa, climate change, the Middle East peace process, Iraq, and counterterrorism.

The meeting was marred by a series of terrorist bombings in central London July 7, which killed more than 50 and caused Blair, who hosted the summit, to temporarily leave Gleneagles in order to meet with authorities in the British capital.

The summit meeting also concluded earlier than originally planned so that Prime Minister Blair could lead a British government panel dealing with the attack.

The bombings elicited strong statements in support of Blair and the people of the United Kingdom by the other G8 participants, as well as by leaders of developing countries and international institutions who were invited to participate in the discussions.

However, the leaders issued a joint statement in which they pledged to not allow the attacks to divert them from "striving to combat world poverty and save and improve human life."

Prime Minister Blair said after the summit's conclusion that "on Africa, on climate change and on the issue of the Middle East, I think we have made significant progress."

The final communiquŽ from the eight leaders read, "We have agreed to double aid for Africa by 2010. Aid for all developing countries will increase, according to the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development], by around $50bn [billion] per year by 2010, of which at least $25bn extra per year for Africa."

The increase would be as compared to 2004 levels, according to a separate G8 statement.

Blair said he and the other G8 leaders "do not simply by this communiquŽ make poverty history, but we do show how it can be done, and we do signify the political will to do it.

"[I]f we double aid, if we cancel debt, if we open up our markets, if we allow conflict to be resolved, if we deal with the main killer diseases in Africa... we will save thousands of lives every day and millions of lives in the future. Yes, we can say that," Blair told reporters.

The G8 leaders also agreed to provide extra resources for African peacekeeping forces to prevent conflict.

According to the Bush administration, "an historic commitment" was launched at Gleneagles to assist Africa. The agreement also advanced U.S. priorities to relieve African debt, fight malaria, address humanitarian needs, improve education, increase development assistance, encourage greater trade and investment, and support peace and stability on the continent.

The G8 countries endorsed a joint U.S. and British proposal to forgive 100 percent of the bilateral and multilateral debt owed by 18 countries that qualify as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries under the joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund program. Of those countries, 14 are in Africa.

On June 30, Bush announced an additional $1.2 billion in U.S. funding for Africa to funding to help fight malaria. The G8 agreed to work with African countries to reach 85 percent of the vulnerable population in an effort to save children's lives and help reduce the economic impact of the disease.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Prime Minister Blair also sought to direct the other leaders' attention to combating global climate change, and said the summit yielded a "genuine consensus" on how to approach the issue which including the United States and emerging economies.

"All of us agreed that climate change is happening now, that human activity is contributing to it, and that it could affect every part of the globe," the final communiquŽ said, adding, "We will take measures to develop markets for clean energy technologies, to increase their availability in developing countries, and to help vulnerable communities adapt to the impact of climate change."

The leaders also agreed to hold a climate-change conference in Montreal, Canada, November 1.

The Bush administration welcomed the G8 decision to "speed the development and deployment of clean energy technologies to achieve the combined goals of addressing climate change, reducing harmful air pollution and improving energy security."

Faryar Shirzad, deputy national security advisor for international economics, said the G8 communiquŽ affirmed the Bush administration's view that climate change is "part of an interrelated set of challenges dealing with energy security, economic development and... the problems of pollution."

MIDDLE EAST PEACE

Progress was also made on promoting peace in the Middle East, with the G8 leaders agreeing to support a plan to provide the Palestinian Authority up to $3 billion over three years to help spur economic development and governance necessary for the Palestinians to capably govern themselves and provide stability in Palestinian territories.

In remarks to reports en route to Washington from Gleneagles, Shirzad characterized the summit as "a huge success" for all the participants.

"[T]he summit was an important step forward in advancing a number of objectives to improve the lives of people and to address real problems in a constructive way that stood in sharp contrast the savagery that occurred in London," he said, adding that "the spirit of good will and faith" accompanied both the summit agenda and the work accomplished by the leaders.

Previous Stories:
  African Union wants end to veto power in Security Council reforms   (7/8/2005)
  Sirte summit calls for two permanent seats in the Security Council   (7/6/2005)
  Qathafi to the African Union summit: pace of progress not satisfactory   (7/5/2005)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search