Brussels, 03/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - It was on a final statement expressing the confidence of the superpowers in the global economy and listing major international problems that the G8 Summit, held this year in Evian by invitation of French President Jacques Chirac, ended on Tuesday morning.
In their statement, the "Eight" (United States, Germany, Japan, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada and Russia) said they were "confident in the growth potential of their economies". But it is worth emphasising that the final press release made no mention of exchange rates, an issue which mainly preoccupied the Europeans, some of whom suspect the United States of letting their currency slide (see also Europe of 31 May, p.13). During the Summit, American President George W. Bush told his interlocutors that the United States wants a strong dollar, blaming its fall against the Euro on the EU's high interest rates and not on any deliberate policy from Washington.
According to the current President of the European Council, Costas Simitis, representing the EU along with Commission President Romano Prodi, those taking part in the Summit agreed that growth will only take off again if co-ordination and co-operation in their policies is reinforced, due to the "interdependence of financial affairs" (the Greek Prime Minister was referring to the impact on the European stock exchanges of bankruptcies and scandals in the United States). At a press conference to sum up the meeting's work, Mr Simitis emphasised the EU and Japan's need for "development parallel to that of the United States" and "the importance of balanced monitoring of markets and enterprises, transparency and quality (…) and the social responsibility of companies, in order to put an end to corruption, but also to reassure the markets and ensure the protection of consumer rights". Mr Simitis also stressed the positive progress that the world economy is becoming less dependent on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Noting lastly that Mr Bush had expressed his country's attachment to the "dollar, strong currency" principle, he stated that the European leaders present at the Summit had observed that the Stability and Growth Pact would benefit from a certain "flexibility", and that in times of crisis, funds should be made available to finance infrastructure capable of helping to boost growth.
The "Eight" also reaffirmed their commitment to "achieve the objectives and respect the general time-table laid down under the Doha development programme". Speaking the evening before on globalisation, Romano Prodi had stated that "we need other forces entering the playing field, apart from the USA, the EU and Japan. We need China and India to get involved, to balance out international commercial relations".
On development, the other big agenda item of the Summit, which decided to renew its attentions to development in Africa, the Commission President pointed out that "the commitment of the developed countries to devote 0.7% of their GDP to helping developing countries remained their main objective". Mr Simitis added that "we must all contribute in order to limit the gap between the developed and the developing countries".
Lastly, on international issues, the "Eight", in their final statement, committed themselves to a "fully sovereign, stable and democratic" Iraq, indicating that "we now need to build peace and reconstruct" the country. On the Middle East, Mr Simitis noted that those taking part in the Summit had expressed their conviction that the Palestinian question could only be resolved with "the support of everyone", and that it should be done, to prevent new terrorist organisations from springing up. He specified that the "Eight" had agreed that they would have to "stick firmly to the time-table and the plan to be achieved, without changing any of the conditions later". On North Korea, Mr Simitis referred to the Japanese Prime Minister's comment on "the need for a peaceful solution to the problem", and on Iran, he flagged up the concerns of Russian President Vladimir Putin on "the production of raw nuclear materials" coming from Teheran.
For the rest, the final statement of the Evian Summit confirmed the guidelines undertaken on Sunday and Monday on the need to adopt additional anti-terrorism measures- setting up an "action group against terrorism" to intensify efforts of third countries and organisations was one measure decided on- and against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.