G8 leaders face moment of truth

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – After years of dithering, leaders of the world’s most powerful countries faced a moment of truth yesterday when they opened a three-day summit under mounting pressure to take concrete action against Africa’s pervasive poverty.

A spirited campaign by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to prick the conscience of the world on the plight of Africa comes to a head as he hosts a gathering of counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. A spokesman for Blair said the Group of Eight during pre-summit consultations had come “close” to an agreement to double annual development aid to Africa to US$50 billion (N$340 billion) by 2010.That goal is the centrepiece in a sweeping “Marshall Plan” put forward by Blair and his finance minister Gordon Brown that also calls for debt cancellation and opening markets in industrialised nations to African agricultural goods.The prime minister in the run-up to the Gleneagles summit had to contend with deep-seated scepticism on the part of the Bush Administration that more financial aid is what Africa most needs.President George Bush and other US conservatives insist that while poor nations may need help, they must first of all establish efficient and corruption-free institutions to ensure that funds from overseas are well-used.”There is unfortunately not sufficient attention paid to the conditions in which development is delivered,” US Treasury Secretary John Snow argued last week.”Money alone is not the answer.”Nonetheless, the White House has now said the US goal in Africa is to boost annual aid from its present level of US$4,3 billion to US$8,6 billion a year by 2010.The United States has also joined the rest of the Group of Eight in agreeing in principle to write off US$40 billion in debt owed by 18 poor countries, 14 of them in Africa, to the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the IMF.Japan, too, has said it will double its official development assistance to Africa to one billion dollars by 2007.But for many African leaders the most punishing constraints on the continent’s well-being are the trade barriers – notably agricultural subsidies – that rich nations have erected against African agricultural exports.Meeting in Libya this week the African Union called for “the abolition of subsidies that stand as an obstacle to trade” and for the adoption of a “calendar” for their removal.Subsidies and other protectionist barriers in rich countries are estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa US$2 billion a year.But it is on this very issue that the G8 is least likely to reach consensus here this week.Within the European Union, Britain and France are bitterly at odds over the future of EU farm subsidies, with Blair pressing for their elimination and French President Jacques Chirac, whose country is their largest EU beneficiary, putting up stiff resistance.The disagreement is mirrored at the international level, notably as the US likewise makes generous assistance available to its farmers.While both the United States and the EU have pledged to get rid of trade-distorting agricultural export subsidies, they remain far apart on how quickly they should be abolished.If there is to be any substantial movement on the question it will likely come within the current round of trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation, notably at a WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in late December.Non-governmental organisations meanwhile voiced scepticism that the G8 summit would make a real difference and predicted it would fail to respond to last weekend’s worldwide mobilisation.- Nampa-AFPA spokesman for Blair said the Group of Eight during pre-summit consultations had come “close” to an agreement to double annual development aid to Africa to US$50 billion (N$340 billion) by 2010.That goal is the centrepiece in a sweeping “Marshall Plan” put forward by Blair and his finance minister Gordon Brown that also calls for debt cancellation and opening markets in industrialised nations to African agricultural goods.The prime minister in the run-up to the Gleneagles summit had to contend with deep-seated scepticism on the part of the Bush Administration that more financial aid is what Africa most needs.President George Bush and other US conservatives insist that while poor nations may need help, they must first of all establish efficient and corruption-free institutions to ensure that funds from overseas are well-used.”There is unfortunately not sufficient attention paid to the conditions in which development is delivered,” US Treasury Secretary John Snow argued last week.”Money alone is not the answer.”Nonetheless, the White House has now said the US goal in Africa is to boost annual aid from its present level of US$4,3 billion to US$8,6 billion a year by 2010.The United States has also joined the rest of the Group of Eight in agreeing in principle to write off US$40 billion in debt owed by 18 poor countries, 14 of them in Africa, to the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the IMF.Japan, too, has said it will double its official development assistance to Africa to one billion dollars by 2007.But for many African leaders the most punishing constraints on the continent’s well-being are the trade barriers – notably agricultural subsidies – that rich nations have erected against African agricultural exports.Meeting in Libya this week the African Union called for “the abolition of subsidies that stand as an obstacle to trade” and for the adoption of a “calendar” for their removal.Subsidies and other protectionist barriers in rich countries are estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa US$2 billion a year.But it is on this very issue that the G8 is least likely to reach consensus here this week.Within the European Union, Britain and France are bitterly at odds over the future of EU farm subsidies, with Blair pressing for their elimination and French President Jacques Chirac, whose country is their largest EU beneficiary, putting up stiff resistance.The disagreement is mirrored at the international level, notably as the US likewise makes generous assistance available to its farmers.While both the United States and the EU have pledged to get rid of trade-distorting agricultural export subsidies, they remain far apart on how quickly they should be abolished.If there is to be any substantial movement on the question it will likely come within the current round of trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation, notably at a WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in late December.Non-governmental organisations meanwhile voiced scepticism that the G8 summit would make a real difference and predicted it would fail to respond to last weekend’s worldwide mobilisation.- Nampa-AFP