G8 Debt/Aid/TradeThere was mixed reaction from anti-poverty campaigners to the latest moves at the G8 summit to increase development aid for Africa and on a worldwide basis. Some of the initiatives taken predated the summit, such as the cancellation of debt owed by 18 poor countries, including 14 in Africa, to international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
On trade, there was no specific commitment to the target date of 2010 for the ending of agricultural export subsidies. However, the G8 leaders looked forward to this issue being dealt with at the Hong Kong meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December. Couched in diplomatic language, the trade communiqué contains a commitment from the G8 countries to eliminating agricultural and other export subsidies "by a credible end date".
The British presidency was claiming its principal success on the issue of increasing development aid, both for Africa and worldwide.
The summit's Africa communiqué states that: "The commitments of the G8 and other donors will lead to an increase in official development assistance (ODA) to Africa of $25 billion a year by 2010, more than doubling the aid to Africa compared to 2004." The communiqué recognises that there are "development challenges" throughout the world and cites an OECD estimate that "ODA from the G8 and other donors to all developing countries will now increase by around $50 billion a year by 2010, compared to 2004". But the increased funding will be targeted and subject to conditions.
"We will focus aid on low-income countries, which are committed to growth and poverty reduction, to democratic, accountable and transparent government, and to sound public financial management," the communiqué states.
But these conditions will not necessarily apply in emergencies: "Aid is also important to respond to humanitarian crises and countries affected by or at risk of conflict." The quid pro quo, as far as the G8 is concerned, must be action by African leaders to promote peace and good governance, uphold democracy and human rights and eliminate corruption.
At a lengthy press conference at the end of the summit, British prime minister Tony Blair said it was "in the nature of politics" that you do not achieve everything you desire, but "very substantial progress indeed" had been made.
In addition to what he said was a "doubling" of aid, both on an African and worldwide basis, the prime minister pointed to specific commitments to increase access to drugs for treating HIV/Aids, malaria, TB and polio. There were also commitments to provide extra resources for education and the training of 20,000 African peacekeepers.
On trade, he said that "some of us would like to have gone further" by making a commitment to eliminate export subsidies by 2010. But there was a "commitment to make a success of Hong Kong" and he believed it was possible to secure agreement at the WTO talks there in December to end the subsidies within five years.
There was disappointment among some campaigners that the extra development aid was not being disbursed right away, instead being spaced-out over a five-year period.
Recalling the size of the recent marches and concerts, Dr Kumi Naidoo of the Global Call to Action against Povery (GCAP) said in a statement that "the people have roared but the G8 has whispered". The number of deaths worldwide caused by poverty could be reduced from 50,000 down to 37,000 per day, if the aid money was released immediately. "The promise to deliver by 2010 is like waiting five years before responding to the tsunami," he said.
There was a more favourable response from Irish rock star Bono. "Fifty billion dollars is a lot of money," he told a news conference in Gleneagles, although the U2 singer acknowledged there was "some disappointment with trade and stuff like that".
He said that "a mountain has been climbed" but campaigners should also look at the valleys they had come up from. "Six hundred thousand Africans, mostly children, will remember this G8, because they will be around to remember it," he said.