Brussels, 01/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The work of the G8 (G7 plus Russia) will open on 7 and 8 of July at Gleneagles, Scotland with the following main themes: support for the continent of Africa, climate change and, as a prelude to the WTO ministerial in Hong Kong in December, the cross-cutting question of the trade negotiations of the Doha cycle. At this stage, the G8 countries are far from presenting converging views, but within a week diplomats will attempt to smooth over the divergences and arrive at the ambitious result that the British Presidency wants to achieve. The point on climate change will be tackled on Thursday morning, before a meeting with the heads of state of China, India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil, where representatives of the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations will also participate. In the afternoon, the discussions will centre on foreign policy issues, in particular the Middle East and issues such as nuclear technology. On the following day, the Friday, the G8 will devote themselves to the situation in Africa, a continent from which several leaders will be received at breakfast. Alongside declarations on aid to Africa and climate change, the scope of which are still very uncertain, the G8 is also due to adopt 6 other texts on the Asian tsunami, the global economic situation (with a point on Doha), the fight against terrorism, the non-proliferation of weapons, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the fight against AIDS.
The declaration on Africa will be on peace and stability in the region as well as good governance. The heads of state will welcome the decision by finance ministers to cancel the multilateral debt of 18 of the poorest countries and the EU is also due to point out the need to increase official development assistance (ODA), from which Africa benefits from more than 50%, as well as identifying additional methods of financing. The Commission nonetheless acknowledges that these will be two delicate points, particularly with regard to the USA. Given the objectives drawn up by the 25 Member States, 20 billion euros more will be mobilised under the ODA, bringing EU contributions to 149 euros per person per year. This figure is half of the level of ODA reached in Norway (300 euros per person per year) but is higher than that of Switzerland (111 euros per person per year) and the USA (40 euros). The international financing facility (IFF) and its pilot project for vaccinations are still the subject of impact assessments on the states' public finances, such that it is uncertain whether progress will be possible at Gleneagles, the Commission emphasised on Thursday.
The declaration on climate change will not give a framework to a future plan on the subject, but should cover three priorities: (a) a plan of action, consensual in nature, with concrete and tangible elements such as environmentally-friendly technologies which would be “in line” with the Commission communication of February (EUROPE 8885); (b) a point on the link between science and technology and the consequences of climate change on the migration of species or the melting of the ice-caps, for example. The link between human activities and global warming is not accepted by all, and the British Presidency may have to revise its ambitions downwards in the face of American hesitation; (c) the scope of the problem for emerging economies, which are large consumers of energy.
With the ambition of ending the Doha cycle by the end of 2006, the G8 wants to give an ambitious political signal, but will not enable progress to be made in the negotiations themselves. The message in the declaration should therefore be “balanced”, according to the Commission, which confirmed that there would be not identification of any specific elements above others (e.g. agriculture). The EU should also support an increase in technical assistance to trade to enable poor countries to respect the high standards required for the entry of products onto the market (phytosanitary standards, SPS). The increase in aid to trade could be problematic for the USA and Japan, and it seems that new commitments for the “everything but arms” initiative are not to be expected from the USA, Canada and Japan.