THE OUTCOME OF THE G8 SUMMIT 2005
Memorandum for the International Development
Committee provided by the Department for International Development
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;
· 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 African 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 communiqué
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 communiqué 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 ten 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 communiqué 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 Euros
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;
(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 communiqué,
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 Euros 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.
Department for International Development
July 2005
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