Memorandum submitted by the Department
for International Development
THE OUTCOME OF THE G8 SUMMIT 2005
SUMMARY
The outcome of the G8 Summit held at Gleneagles
on 6-8 July reflected the Government's intention to use our Presidency
of the G8 in 2005 to renew international focus and commitment
on two key themes: Africa and climate change.
2. On Africa, the Government's objective
was for the G8 to show leadership by agreeing a plan of action
to address the complex and inter-linked problems of Africa, building
on the work of the Commission for Africa (CfA), the African Union
(AU) and NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa Development) and the
G8 Africa Personal Representatives (APRs).
3. At Gleneagles, agreement was reached
on a comprehensive package of support that will enable Africa
to make faster progress towards the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). This recognised that there needs to be a new partnership
between the developed world and Africa—a partnership that
puts primary responsibility for development on Africa itself,
but that requires more and better aid to support the change. In
response, G8 leaders agreed to double aid to Africa by providing
substantial additional resources for countries that have strong
national development plans and are committed to good governance,
democracy and transparency.
4. Specifically, G8 leaders agreed:
— to provide extra resources for Africa's
peacekeeping forces so that they can better deter, prevent and
resolve conflicts in Africa;
— to give enhanced support for greater
democracy, effective governance and transparency, and to help
fight corruption and return stolen assets;
— to boost investment in health and
education, and to take action to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB
and other killer diseases; and
— to stimulate growth, improve the
investment climate and make trade work for Africa, including by
helping to build Africa's capacity to trade and by working to
mobilise the extra investment in infrastructure which is needed
for business.
5. The success of the Gleneagles Summit
will be measured by how well the commitments are implemented.
G8 heads recognise the importance of monitoring these commitments
and, in order to ensure delivery, agreed to strengthen the Africa
Partnership Forum for this purpose.
6. On climate change, the Government's
primary objective was to raise the profile of these issues as
a matter deserving the urgent attention of Heads of Government
at and beyond the G8 Summit, so as to promote an international
consensus on the need for further action to control emissions.
7. G8 heads agreed a Plan of Action designed
to develop markets for clean energy technologies, particularly
for large energy users mostly in Asia and Latin America; increase
their availability in developing countries; and help vulnerable
communities adapt to the impact of climate change. This includes
applying climate risk management practices to donor-funded development
investments, and a special provision for Africa to improve the
availability of climate change and technical and scientific capacity
to use climate data effectively in planning in sectors such as
agriculture, water and health. G8 heads agreed to take forward
a Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development
with other interested countries, particularly those with significant
energy needs, with a view to addressing the strategic challenge
of transforming our energy systems to create a more secure and
sustainable future. This will report back under Japan's G8 Presidency
in 2008.
DETAIL
Renewed Commitment to Africa
8. At Gleneagles, G8 heads acknowledged,
after an outreach session with a number of African heads of state
and institutions, that further progress in Africa depends, above
all, on its own leaders and its own people. As the Report of the
Commission for Africa (CfA) recognised, there needs to be a new
partnership between the developed world and Africa—a partnership
that puts primary responsibility for development on Africa itself,
but that requires more and better aid to support the change. The
communique« acknowledges the personal commitment of African
leaders, previously affirmed at the African Union Summit earlier
this month, to drive forward plans to reduce poverty and promote
economic growth in their own countries. They also committed to
deepen transparency and good governance; strengthen democratic
institutions and processes; show zero tolerance for corruption;
remove all obstacles to intra-African trade; and bring about lasting
peace and security across the continent.
9. Building on Africa's own efforts, agreement
was reached on a comprehensive package of support that will enable
Africa to make faster progress towards the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) by 2015. In response, G8 leaders agreed to double
aid to Africa by providing substantial additional resources for
countries that have strong national development plans and are
committed to good governance, democracy and transparency. This
recognises that we as donors need to be genuinely accountable,
not only for how we spend taxpayers' money, but also to those
whose lives are affected by it—African governments and their
peoples.
Peace and Stability
10. As the communique« says, peace
is the first condition of successful development. The CfA Report
also acknowledged that peace and security is essential to reduce
poverty and promote economic growth and development in Africa.
Since 1994, more than nine million Africans have died as a result
of conflict, most of them civilians.
11. By providing more co-ordinated, long-term
and flexible financing and technical assistance, G8 countries
will help the African Union (AU) and Sub-Regional Organisations
to build a peacekeeping force by 2010, enabling it to respond
better to security challenges, such as Darfur. We are also working
with these organisations to co-ordinate specific financial and
technical assistance for the development of the African Standby
Force. To ensure that Africa is better able to respond to emerging
security challenges, we will support African efforts to prevent
conflict, provide effective mediation and combat terrorism. We
will also support reconstruction and reconciliation in post conflict
countries, through rapid debt relief, financing for reconstruction
needs and efforts to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian
assistance. During our EU Presidency, and at the UN Millennium
Review Summit, the UK intends to seek endorsement and support
for AU plans beyond the G8 countries, and to make real progress
on strengthening UN and African responses to conflict in Africa.
Promoting Good and Responsive Governance
12. G8 leaders welcomed African institutions'
engagement in promoting and enhancing effective governance, including
NEPAD's strong statements in support of democracy and human rights.
In response to this African commitment, involving African leaders
working together to improve governance across the continent through
the AU, NEPAD and the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), we
will provide financial support. We expect the APRM to emerge as
the primary means by which African standards of governance will
be reviewed and judged by Africans and by the international community.
Country reviews and implementation of the findings will enable
judgements to be made on how standards are improving.
13. We recognise particularly the importance
of tackling corruption and, as part of this will provide increased
support to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI),
which seeks to improve the transparency in what companies are
paying to governments, and governments' accountability to their
own people. Over the coming year, the EITI International Advisory
Group will set out a process for evaluating EITI implementation
against internationally agreed criteria. Recognising that there
are two sides to corruption, G8 countries will also take action
to speed up the repatriation of stolen assets. The UK aims, by
the end of this year, to have ratified the UN Convention on Corruption.
Investing in People
14. Providing extra money to health, through
the doubling of aid to the poorest countries, will mean that tens
of millions of lives will be saved over the coming years. All
children should have access to basic healthcare—free where
countries choose to provide it—to reduce the risk of deaths
from preventative causes.
15. In providing additional resources for
AIDS, the G8 have made a significant step forward: aiming for
an AIDS-free generation in Africa; committing to work with WHO,
UNAIDS and others to reduce significantly HIV infections; supporting
the 12 million children left orphaned or vulnerable by AIDS; and
getting, as close as possible to universal access to AIDS treatment
for all who need it by 2010.
16. The UK is committed to securing a more
effective global response to AIDS, to narrowing the financing
gap, and to ensuring that resources are used effectively to support
countries' plans to tackle HIV and AIDS through implementation
of the "Three Ones". We are working for a successful
replenishment conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB
and Malaria (GFATM) to be held in London in September. Full funding
for GFATM (US$7.1 billion), together with the additional funding
the G8 has committed for TB and malaria, would halve the number
of deaths from TB (from two million to one million) by 2015, and
help to save some 600,000 child deaths a year from malaria, through
action including provision of bed nets and better access to effective
drugs. The funding that DFID has recently pledged for polio will
ensure that the disease can be eradicated worldwide by no later
than early next year.
17. Through the provision of extra money
for education, including supporting countries through the Education
for All Fast Track Initiative, G8 countries will contribute to
all children being able to receive free, good quality primary
education. DFID will work with Africa governments, under their
leadership, to invest in better education, more schools and additional
teachers. We have already seen how two million children enrolled
in school after the Kenyan Government introduced free primary
education. Since the Tanzanian Government abolished primary school
user fees, nine out of 10 children are now enrolled in school.
G8 leaders also undertook to help Africa develop a cadre of skilled
professionals through Africa's universities and centres of excellence
in science and technology.
Promoting Growth
18. As the communique« acknowledges,
private enterprise is the primary engine of growth and development.
G8 countries will therefore help African countries to build a
much stronger investment climate, including through support to
the Investment Climate Facility. To boost growth, attract new
investment and contribute to building Africa's capacity to trade,
we will develop an international infrastructure consortium to
help meet Africa's urgent infrastructure needs. Following an exploratory
meeting last May, the inaugural meeting of consortium will be
held in London on 6 October. In preparation for this, DFID is
in dialogue with the key players—the African Union, NEPAD,
Regional Economic Communities, the World Bank, African Development
Bank and European Commission—to ensure a successful outcome.
19. Recognising the importance African governments
attach to supporting the agriculture sector of their economies,
G8 countries have undertaken to give financial and technical assistance
to the AU/NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP) to support sustainable agriculture. DFID will be working
with the European Commission on a EU position paper on the CAADP.
20. At Gleneagles, it was agreed to implement
the G8 water action plan approved at the Evian Summit, including
through increasing aid to the sector. DFID has already committed
to doubling its investment in water and sanitation in Africa.
21. G8 heads agreed to redouble their efforts
to achieve a successful outcome to the Doha Development Agenda
(DDA) so as to make trade work for Africa. It was agreed that
they would increase assistance to developing countries to build
the physical, human and institutional capacity to trade. DFID
has led in pressing for more aid to enable poor countries to build
their capacity to trade and adjust to a more open global trading
system. We will continue to work with developing countries, the
EC, the World Bank and other donors to develop these proposals
further, in advance of the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December.
Financing for Development
22. G8 leaders agreed to double aid to Africa
by providing substantial additional resources for countries that
have strong national development plans and are committed to good
governance, democracy and transparency. This recognises that we,
as donors, need to be genuinely accountable, not only for how
we spend taxpayers' money, but also to those whose lives are affected
by it—African governments and their peoples. The G8 is committed
to providing an additional US$25 billion by 2010 as part of an
overall agreement that will see aid rise by an additional US$50
billion over the next five years.
23. This represents a substantial change
in the position as it stood at the beginning of this year. In
May, EU Member States made a historic commitment to double annual
EU aid to over
67 billion (£45 billion) in 2010 compared to
current levels. At least half of the increase will go to Africa.
In the run-up to Gleneagles, Japan, Canada and the US announced
that they would double their aid to Africa by 2008. At the Summit,
G8 heads confirmed that, as set out by their Finance Ministers
on 11 June, debts owned by eligible heavily indebted poor countries
to the World Bank's IDA, the International Monetary Fund and the
African Development Fund would be cancelled. They also welcomed
the Paris Club decision to write off more than US$17 billion of
Nigeria's debts. Russia has committed to providing additional
bilateral debt relief. Some G8 and other countries will also take
forward innovative financing mechanisms designed to increase and
front-load the resources available for development.
24. G8 leaders acknowledged their responsibility
to implement, and be monitored on the commitments donors made
in the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness. This will involve
providing untied, predictable, harmonised aid—where possible,
through national systems and more programme-based approaches.
They also agreed to focus resources on low-income countries committed
to growth and poverty reduction and recognised that it is up to
developing countries themselves to decide, plan and sequence their
economic policies to fit with their own development plans. DFID
is committed to matching aid to country priorities, not making
aid conditional on specific policy decisions, providing long-term
commitments, making our aid more predictable, and increasing our
use of country systems, including national budget processes, financial
management and procurement systems.
Partnership and Mutual Accountability
25. The success of the Gleneagles Summit
will be measured by how well the commitments are implemented,
and G8 leaders agreed that an effective forum was needed to monitor
progress. Although there are a number of existing mechanisms to
hold African and donor countries to account for their performance,
and several proposals have been made for new mechanisms, none
of these has an appropriately broad African and donor membership
to undertake monitoring across the whole of Africa. G8 leaders
decided that the African Partnership Forum (APF)—created
after the 2003 G8 Summit—has a sufficiently comprehensive,
political level membership, including high-level representation
from the G8 and other donor countries, NEPAD countries, Regional
Economic Communities and multilateral institutions (UN, World
Bank, IMF, African Development Bank). However, they considered
that the APF needs to be strengthened in order to effectively
monitor, review and report progress, to ensure consistent and
high-level representation, and to carry out follow-up work between
meetings. It is planned to agree a plan of commitments, including
the establishment of a Joint Action Plan, and ways of strengthening
the APF at its next meeting, which is to be held in London in
October.
Climate Change
26. The UK sees climate change as one of
the greatest challenges facing the world today, on which we wish
to promote constructive dialogue and practical co-operation and
action. The Gleneagles Plan of Action agreed at the Summit is
an important step forward in this respect. Under the Plan, G8
countries—in partnership with the major emerging economies—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 impacts of climate change.
G8 heads agreed to take forward a Dialogue on Climate Change,
Clean Energy and Sustainable Development with other interested
countries, particularly those with significant energy needs, mainly
in Asia and Latin America, with a view to addressing the strategic
challenge of transforming our energy systems to create a more
secure and sustainable future; monitoring implementation of the
commitments made in the Plan of Action and exploring how to build
on this progress; and sharing best practice between participating
governments.
27. On low carbon development, a package
of measures was agreed to make energy generation and use more
sustainable, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, working principally
with the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), particularly the
World Bank. In terms of next steps, the international community
will be working with the World Bank and the MDBs to:
(a) make the best use of existing resources
and financing instruments and develop a framework for energy investment
to accelerate the adoption of technologies which enable cleaner,
more efficient energy production and use;
(b) help developing countries identify less
greenhouse gas intensive growth options which meet their national
priorities; and
(c) develop climate risk management guidelines
for application to donor-funded development investments.
As shareholders in the MDBs, DFID will work
closely with them to achieve these ends. At the Annual Meetings
of the World Bank and the Regional Development Banks, we will
seek progress on exploring the opportunities within their existing
and new lending portfolios to increase the volume of investments
on clean energy technologies, consistent with the MDBs' core mission
of poverty reduction, as well as developing local commercial capacity
to develop and finance cost effective low carbon energy projects
and expanding the use of voluntary energy savings assessments
as a part of major investments in new or existing projects in
energy intensive sectors.
28. On adaptation to climate change, G8
heads agreed to put climate risk management procedures in place
for donor-funded development investments, to increase their resilience
to climate change impacts. They called on the World Bank to develop
guidelines on climate risk management practice on which G8 countries
would collaborate with them.
29. A major focus is on helping Africa to
access climate data and improve her technical and scientific capacity
to use this data effectively in planning. G8 leaders agreed to
support improvements to climate observation networks to address
climate data gaps, as well as developing in-country and regional
capacity for analysing and interpreting climate observational
data, to support local planning needs in sectors such as agriculture,
water and health. This will be done by strengthening existing
climate-related technical institutions in Africa, with a view
to developing fully operational regional climate centres.
30. The UK will launch partnerships on energy
and climate change at the Indian and Chinese Sustainable Development
Summits later this year. We hope that these partnerships will
stimulate debate on low carbon development, including on how best
the International Financial Institutions can support this. In
advance of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in September, DFID
will begin a dialogue with the Bank and other donors on a schedule
of work to promote the uptake of clean energy technologies. Our
intention is that climate risk assessment procedures for UK-funded
development investments should be in place by 2008, in line with
the recommendation of the CfA Report. Before then, a pilot phase
will be implemented, working with the World Bank and other donors.
DFID officials will work with their G8 counterparts to develop
a plan of action for the delivery of assistance to improve climate
data gaps in Africa.
31. Africa and Climate Change were considered
at the G8 Environment and Development Ministerial conference held
in March. At Gleneagles, G8 leaders endorsed the outcome of that
conference, including action to reduce illegal logging which impacts
adversely on the livelihoods of many in the poorest countries
in Africa and elsewhere.
Follow-up to Gleneagles
32. The outcome of the G8 Summit has placed
development and Africa centre-stage. This is timely given the
UK's Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2005, the UN Millennium
Review Summit in September and the WTO Ministerial in December.
33. During our EU Presidency, Africa and
development will be one of our priorities, and we shall work with
our EU partners to produce by December a long-term global strategy
for Africa, drawing on the EC's Focus for Africa communication.
It will be particularly important to take forward Gleneagles'
commitments on peace and security and governance, both of which
will feature strongly in the Africa Strategy. The EU is seen as
a natural partner for the African Union, and has already provided
significant support to the AU through its African Peace Facility
and its Africa Dialogue; it is committed to do more. Responding
to the G8 communique«, the Africa Strategy will also focus
on infrastructure, AIDS, TB and malaria.
34. Preparations for the UN Summit are already
under way in New York. Progress made on the development agenda
at Gleneagles will help to build momentum, and the UK wants to
see international agreement to providing more and better aid to
deliver much faster progress towards the MDGs across the globe,
but especially in Africa, and to recognising the links between
development, security, human rights and UN institutional reform.
In addition, we shall be seeking the establishment of a Peace-building
Commission, and agreement on ways of improving the UN's response
to humanitarian crises.
35. G8 leaders made it clear that they see
a successful conclusion to the WTO Doha Development Agenda (DDA)
as one of the most effective ways to generate economic growth,
create potential for development and raise living standards across
the world. It is estimated that an ambitious and successful DDA
conclusion in 2006 would lift 140 million people out of poverty.
36. To achieve this, the UK is working with
other G8 countries and EU Member States to achieve a successful
outcome to the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December. Our aims
include making real progress in delivering substantial increases
in market access for developing countries, setting a credible
end date for the elimination of all forms of trade-distorting
export support and significantly reducing trade-distorting domestic
support in agriculture, with early action on products of special
interest to developing countries, such as cotton. We also need
to ensure that developing countries are given the flexibility
to decide, plan and sequence their trade reforms, through so-called
"special and differential treatment" throughout the
negotiations. We look to the UN Summit in September to reiterate
strong political commitment to delivering the development potential
of the DDA on which technical negotiations will continue throughout
the rest of the year. We shall be discussing proposals on how
to deliver increased "aid for trade" with partners,
and welcome the European Commission's announcement that it will
increase to
1 billion a year aid provided to build poor countries'
capacity to trade. We have also agreed to provide increased funds
to assist developing countries to take advantage of the new opportunities
from a positive conclusion to the DDA and more open markets.
37. In conclusion, the Government sees 2005
as an historic opportunity to make a difference to the lives of
poor people, particularly in Africa. While this year will not
see the end of extreme poverty, we believe that agreements reached
at Gleneagles, in Brussels, New York and Hong Kong should mean
the beginning of the end of extreme poverty.
July 2005
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