T his year's annual G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Federation concluded on 17 July. In the "Outreach Session" of the Summit on this day, the G8 leaders, who include the Current President of the European Union (EU) and the President of the EU Commission, were joined by an additional seven Heads of State and Government.
These were from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, as well as the Current Chairperson of the African Union (AU), President Sassou-Nguessou of the Republic of Congo, and the Current Chairperson of the Commonwealth of Independent (former Soviet) States, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Khazakhstan.
Also attending this Session were the UN Secretary General, the Director General (DG) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the DG of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the President of the World Bank, the Acting DG of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the DG of UNESCO, and the Head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
By any standard, the Outreach Session therefore constituted an important gathering of leading representatives of governments and inter-governmental organisations, which together play a central role in determining what happens to the world economy, among other things.
The G8 had identified three issues as the principal matters on its agenda. These were Energy Security, Infectious Diseases and Education. It however dealt with other issues including Trade, Non-Proliferation, the Middle East, Africa and Counter-terrorism.
An "Africa update" was presented at the meeting. In this context we must mention that some years back, the African leaders and the G8 had agreed that a comprehensive review of the agreed Africa Action Plan would take place biannually. This took place at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit and will also take place at the 2007 G8 Summit in Germany. This explains why at this year's G8 Summit, Africa was only represented by the Current Chairperson of the AU.
Ahead of the Summit, in addition to participating in the preparation of the G8 documents, the G5 - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa - had prepared its own Position Paper on the issues that would serve on the agenda of the G8.
Accordingly, the G5 Paper dealt with Energy Security, Education, Infectious Diseases, Trade and the Doha Agenda for Development, and Mobilisation of Financial Resources for Development.
In its Introduction, the G5 Paper said: "Global challenges today in the areas of energy security, education and infectious diseases can only be adequately dealt with through intensified international coordination and cooperation. In this regard we reiterate our proposal, made last year in Gleneagles, for a new paradigm for international cooperation, focused on the achievement of concrete and properly assessed results, taking fully into account the perspective and needs of developing countries. The increased participation of developing countries in the decision-making processes of the United Nations system and other international organisations, is essential to ensure more balanced and legitimate results."
With regard to Energy, the G5 said: "We express concern at the negative impact of soaring energy prices on our development efforts in recent years. We favour the establishment of an international energy order that is fair, equitable, secure and stable, to the benefit of the entire international community. We support an inclusive dialogue on energy, capable of creating a political environment conducive to the peaceful settlement of disputes through consultation."
On Education, the G5 said: "We call upon the international community and G8 members, as well as UNESCO and all international agencies to strengthen cooperation towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the Dakar Goals. In this context, we welcome and support the development of the UNESCO Global Action Plan to achieve core 'Education for All' goals and recognise the importance of the Monterrey Declaration of the E-9 countries."
On Infectious Diseases, the G5 said: "Infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and avian influenza, pose daunting challenges that must be tackled through more efficient cooperation and greater financial resources as mentioned in the Millennium Development Goals...
"We reiterate the need to reduce major trade barriers to facilitate access to new affordable quality vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and technology aimed at preventing and controlling infectious diseases. The flexibilities contained in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and recognised by the Doha Ministerial Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health should be fully used to protect public health."
Reflecting on the WTO negotiations, the G5 said: "The Doha Round is the best chance we have to open world markets, level the playing field, share wealth and create jobs. This is a Development Round and it must create new opportunities for the developing world.
"Poverty alleviation and development promotion are not only ethical and economic imperatives, they are also essential for a stable world economy. All nations, especially the poorest ones, must benefit from the opportunities created by international trade. A substantial reduction of agricultural subsidies and improved market access for agricultural and other products will increase the competitiveness and improve living standards of developing countries."
With regard to the Mobilisation of Financial Resources, the G5 said: "As a result of the commitments undertaken by the international community in the Monterrey Consensus, progress has been registered in moving towards the achievement of the MDGs, particularly in matters such as: i) debt elimination for a relevant number of highly indebted poor countries; ii) increase of ODA flows; and, iii) a higher and better coordination among economic multilateral institutions in order to achieve the MDGs. Additional efforts are necessary if we are to comply with the MDGs within the deadlines originally agreed upon in 2000...
"The need to intensify efforts to raise additional financial resources for development is relevant to the debate on the issues placed before the G8 Saint Petersburg Summit. In order to win the fight against hunger and poverty, infectious diseases and inadequate education, we must assume our shared responsibility in the search for mechanisms capable of channelling the necessary resources to fulfil common development objectives."
These extracts show that in its Position Paper, the G5 correctly continued to focus on some of the most important challenges that face all developing countries, seeking to ensure that the developed countries of the North understand fully that these challenges stand at the centre of the global agenda in all its elements.
The G5 also went out of its way to focus on the challenges facing our Continent. In this regard it said: "In addressing the issues brought to the attention of the G8, we emphasise the need to follow-up on the work on Africa launched at Gleneagles. As we focus on the issues before the Summit, we agree on the need to look carefully at the special needs of Africa...
"The international community should continue to cooperate with the African countries in their quest for peace, development and social justice. A true partnership must be established bearing in mind the views and needs of African countries and people. South-South cooperation is of particular value in this regard."
Fortunately, there are many positions adopted by the G8 which coincide with those of the G5. It will not be possible to cite these points of convergence extensively. However, we will now proceed to mention some of the relevant decisions of the G8.
With regard to Energy Security, the G8 said: "We confirm our commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals, including through facilitating a better access to energy. It is impossible to drastically reduce general poverty...in developing countries without addressing the challenge of energy poverty. We will help vulnerable countries overcome the macroeconomic shocks related to energy prices, and the longer term challenge of facilitating access to energy for the poorest populations."
With regard to Infectious Diseases, the G8 said: "Major diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and measles continue to exact a heavy toll on economies and societies around the world, particularly in developing countries, impeding achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)...The situation is especially acute in least developed countries, particularly in Africa where governments and their people face limited access to prevention and essential healthcare information, inadequate capacity of healthcare systems, the shortage and significant outflow of qualified health workers, resource constraints, and often inadequate nutrition, clean water, and sanitation...
"We agree to continue to support efforts by developing country partners, particularly in Africa, to ensure that initiatives to reduce the burden of disease are built on sustainable health systems. We will also continue to emphasise the training, deployment and retention of health workers in our health sector assistance programs. In this regard, we take note of the creation of the Global Health Workforce Alliance, and encourage further work by the WHO and other donor organisations in this area."
Concerning Education, the G8 decided: "We will actively cooperate to achieve high quality basic education, literacy and gender equality in accord with the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the objectives of Education for All (EFA)...
"We regret that interim targets related to eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education have not been achieved. Greater concerted action by all will be needed to fulfill these key goals by 2015. We reaffirm our commitments in this regard. We reiterate our commitment to support Africa in its achievement of the Education for All (EFA) agenda."
Finally, concerning the Doha Development Round, the G8 said: "We regret that the negotiations in Geneva on 29 June -1 July did not close all the gaps between the WTO Members. We welcome the decision to ask the WTO Director General to consult Members intensively in order to promote early agreement and call upon him to report to the WTO Membership as soon as possible with the aim of facilitating agreement on negotiating modalities on agriculture and industrial tariffs within a month. We call upon all countries to commit to the concerted leadership and action needed to reach a successful conclusion of the Doha Round."
With regard to this issue, and of great importance, the Outreach Session agreed that all those present at the meeting should give their negotiators the necessary flexibility to ensure that agreement is achieved within the month to which the G8 had already agreed.
This has created the possibility actually to conclude the protracted WTO Doha Development Round negotiations by the end of this year, as agreed. The outcome will have to be based firmly on the recognition that the focus of the WTO negotiations is to agree on a global trade regime targeted at meeting the needs of the developing countries.
The foregoing suggests that there are important areas of convergence between the developing and developed countries with regard to the struggle against poverty and underdevelopment. It would therefore seem that the principal challenge facing the North and the South is concerted joint effort actually to implement the agreed development programmes.
In this regard, of great importance is the call made by the G5 "for a new paradigm for international cooperation, focused on the achievement of concrete and properly assessed results, taking fully into account the perspective and needs of developing countries".
