BRITAIN: Despite the convivial atmosphere of the G8 summit opening yesterday, a wide gap remained between US president George Bush and the other summit leaders.
With security tight, the leaders of the advanced industrial democracies arrived in jovial spirits but with little common rhetoric on global warming in particular.
At a press conference in Copenhagen, on his way to the summit, the president made clear he was giving no ground on this critical issue where he has taken a position at odds with the other G8 countries. The US is the only G8 member that has not signed up to the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for trapping the sun's heat and causing global warming in the process.
The president has stated his belief that the protocol would wreck the US economy and he reiterated his stance yesterday: "Kyoto didn't work for the United States and it frankly didn't work for the world. The reason it didn't work for the world was that developing nations weren't included."
The final G8 communique is expected to gloss over differences by stressing there is consensus that the problem is man-made. Setting the stage for the introduction of this formula, the president said: "I recognise that the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem." The communique is also expected to highlight the need for investment in new technology and products that would not generate greenhouse gases. A spokesman for British prime minister Tony Blair said they were "realistic" about what might be achieved, but there might be ways of "leap-frogging over the disagreements on Kyoto and finding ways of moving forwards despite that".
As well as the news media, numerous representative of non-governmental organisations are present in the G8 compound.
Global Call to Action Against Poverty chairman Kumi Naidoo pointed out that it was 35 years since the member states of the United Nations committed themselves to allocating 0.7 per cent of gross national product in overseas development aid.
Mr Naidoo quoted former South African president Nelson Mandela's comment that 35 years was a long time to wait for less than 1 per cent.
Mr Naidoo's predictions for the likely outcome of the summit were bleak. There was "nothing of substance on the table" to ensure greater justice in the terms of trade between rich and poor countries.
Although "a small, belated step in the right direction" had been taken by finance ministers of the rich countries last month when they cancelled debts owed to international institutions by 18 developing countries, the true number of countries whose debts should be cancelled was "in excess of 60". Besides, the lifting of the debt was still linked to "some obscene conditionalities" for the economic policies of the countries in question.
Questioning the "political will" of the G8 countries in this respect, Mr Naidoo pointed out that $50 billion in debt owed by oil-rich Iraq had been written off. "That's the kind of political will we are seeking."