08 June 2007

G8 Leaders Pledge Assistance for Africa, Emerging Economies

Also launch new "dialogue" on Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa

Washington -- Leaders of the Group of Eight nations, meeting for three days in Germany, pledged to assist Africa and other countries, and endorsed President Bush's initiative for a major global climate agreement by the end of 2008.

From the U.S. viewpoint, the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, was "very positive," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino told reporters June 8 aboard Air Force One as President Bush departed the summit for a scheduled visit to Poland.

The summit included an important compromise agreement on global climate change and "significant commitments to Africa," Perino said. Summit highlights also included "President Bush leading the way on his HIV/AIDS proposal, and a recognition of the need to work together with developing countries, including outreach countries that were there [attending the summit]: India, China, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa."

The annual G8 meeting was attended by the heads of government of Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States, as well as other world and regional leaders. Calling climate change an "urgent challenge," the leaders urged countries that are consume large amounts of energy and emit large quantities of greenhouse gases to establish by the end of 2008 a new global framework for dealing with emissions of these gases. (See related article.)

Summit leaders also pledged or renewed pledges totaling $60 billion in the next several years to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa. In addition, summit leaders "set a goal of supporting treatment for 5 million HIV/AIDS-infected individuals, preventing 24 million new infections, and caring for 24 million people, including 10 million orphans and vulnerable children," the White House said in a statement. The leaders also established a goal of enabling the 30 countries in Africa most burdened by malaria to cut their malaria-related deaths in half over the next several years.  (See related article.)

Focusing on Africa issues during a June 8 session, G8 leaders met with the leaders of Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, as well as the chair of the African Union (currently the president of Ghana), the prime minister of Ethiopia and the secretary-general of the United Nations. Discussions focused on how the G8 could contribute to peace and security, sustainable investment, good governance and improving health care systems.

"We confirmed together with the African leaders that we can only meet these challenges in a spirit of partnership, mutual accountability and trust," German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chaired the summit, said in a written statement.

The G8 leaders also agreed to launch a high-level dialogue, known as the "Heiligendamm Process," between the G8 countries and the emerging economies of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. The Heiligendamm Process will "address innovation, freedom of investment, development in Africa and energy efficiency," according to a White House statement. Members taking part in the process will provide reports at the next two annual G8 summits.

"We acknowledged our respective responsibilities and the need to develop common solutions," Merkel said in her written statement. "We therefore agreed to launch a new topic-driven dialogue on key world economic issues with the aim of reaching concrete results" by the G8 Summit in Italy in 2009.

A goal of the Heiligendamm Process is to "work together ... to foster open and more favorable investment conditions n our respective countries," Merkel's statement said.

A fact sheet on summit accomplishments is available on the White House Web site.

The full text of Merkel's statement and other summit documents are available on a Web site of the host German government.

By Vince Crawley
USINFO Staff Writer