G8 LEADERS have pledged $20 billion in aid to help boost farming and rural communities in some of the world’s poorest countries. They also attempted to breathe new life into stalled world trade talks yesterday by agreeing to conclude the Doha development round in 2010.
“There is no reason Africa should not be self-sufficient when it comes to food,” said US president Barack Obama, who recalled that his relatives live “in villages where hunger is real”, though they are not going hungry.
The G8 states were expected to pledge €15 billion in aid but, following intensive discussions with African leaders in the morning, they agreed to a larger sum of $20 billion. G8 diplomats said the leaders had responded to criticism from the African states at the meeting for failing to meet a 2005 pledge to increase aid to $50 billion by 2010.
Aid campaigner Bob Geldof said the food initiative looked promising but criticised G8 host Italy, which he claims has only provided 3 per cent of the aid it promised in 2005. “What will Italy’s contribution be? Mr Berlusconi you owe the poor €1 billion. Where is it, Mr 3 Per Cent?” he asked.
It is unclear exactly how much of the pledged money amounts to completely fresh aid, but the initiative reflects a shift in emphasis away from emergency food aid to more long-term sustainable aid to boost agriculture. The money will be spent on seeds, fertiliser, irrigation projects and grain storage.
Mr Obama, who will make a major speech in Ghana today, told African leaders at the summit that the US was willing to help Africa states, but that they also needed to help themselves through good governance.
The aid pledge rounded off a three-day summit with more than 30 world leaders in L’Aquila, which also discussed how to combat climate change and finalise world trade talks after eight years of tortuous negotiations.
Aware of the precarious economic situation, G8 leaders and leaders from the five biggest developing states have set a target of concluding the Doha development round of world trade talks in 2010. India, which along with the US blocked a trade deal last year, has invited trade ministers to a ministerial meeting in early September raising hopes of a breakthrough.
The summit only achieved incremental progress on tackling climate change, with China and India refusing to sign up to any declaration on cutting global emissions. There were also calls for reform of the G8 format from several world leaders to acknowledge the growth of the developing states.