TOYAKO, Japan, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Some African
leaders and the UN chief on Monday called on the leaders of the Group of Eight
(G8) industrialized nations to fulfill their commitments on increasing aid to
Africa as they met with the G8 leaders on the first day of the G8 summit in the
northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Climate change, the world economy and African
development figure high on the agenda of the Toyako summit of the G8, which
groups Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, Russia and the United
States.
Group of Eight (G8) leaders pose for a
photograph in front of bamboo for Japan's traditional star festival during
a social event at the Windsor Hotel Toya in Toyako Town, Hokkaido, Japan,
on Monday, July 7, 2008. From left to right, the leaders are Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Japan's Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda, U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel
Barroso, president of the European Commission. (Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
The G8 leaders talked with the
presidents of Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and
Ethiopia on aid to Africa and other issues Monday afternoon at the hilltop
Windsor Hotel in Toyako, a resort town on the northern island of
Hokkaido.
AFRICA, UN TO G8: HONOR PLEDGES
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the G8
session with African leaders, urged the G8 nations to take concrete actions to
honor their commitments made in 2005 of doubling aid to Africa by 2010.
"The G8 leaders should implement what they committed
in Gleneagles by providing necessary funds," Ban told a press conference after
the session, adding that Africa also demands better predictability in aid and
aid efficiency.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (R)
speaks at the UN-WB Joint Press Conference in Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan on
July 7, 2008. The United Nations and World Bank held a joint press
conference focusing on the global food and fuel crisis, climate change and
progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Toyako on
Monday. (Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
A
report issued last month by the Africa Progress Panel, which was set up to
monitor the implementation of the Gleneagles commitments, said that under
current spending plans, the G8 will fall 40 billion dollars short of its target.
The UN chief said this year marks the half-way point
in the global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,"but
that progress in many African countries is not on track."
Speaking at the same press conference, World Bank
President Robert Zoellick said the leaders also discussed a system to better
track the aid to ensure commitments were honored.
"Countries need to deliver on their promises, and
that was the tone that was generally accepted in the discussion," he said.
Kazuo Kodama, press secretary of the Japanese Foreign
Ministry, told reporters that African countries told the G8 leaders that they
should "fully" implement the many aid promises made to Africa.
The African and G8 leaders also
discussed surging oil and food prices, agricultural development in Africa, trade
and investment and the Millennium Development Goals, he
said.
