Two years ago, after Gleneagles, we were all excited by the following headline:
The World Bank is preparing to cancel billions of dollars of debt owed to it by many of the world's poorest nations.
It is two years later and we are all still waiting!
The battle cry was :
The battle cry was :
Make Poverty History
The July 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles delivered promises on debt, aid, trade, security and climate change.
Debt cancellation has resulted in extra spending on health and education in poor countries, but is not reaching enough of the world's poor. Aid figures show huge increases but include large debt write-offs for Iraq and Nigeria. The growth in aid in key G8 nations is not enough to meet the promises made at Gleneagles. G8 nations have so far failed to overcome trade deadlocks that would allow poor nations to benefit from a globalised economy. The pace of climate change talks has increased, but not the action. And one year on there is still no international agreement on standards for arms transfers.
Excerpts from the summary of agreements published by Germany on behalf of G8 leaders after their summit in Heiligendamm.
G8 leaders meeting in Germany have vowed to deliver on pledges to Africa, and agreed a $60bn (£30bn) package for fighting Aids, malaria and TB.
G8 nations agreed to:
- Wipe the debts of 18 African countries
- Announced $50bn boost to aid for Africa
- Pledged universal access to HIV drugs in Africa by 2010
- Committed to training 20,000 peacekeepers for Africa
- Vowed to work towards a new trade deal
Debt cancellation has resulted in extra spending on health and education in poor countries, but is not reaching enough of the world's poor. Aid figures show huge increases but include large debt write-offs for Iraq and Nigeria. The growth in aid in key G8 nations is not enough to meet the promises made at Gleneagles. G8 nations have so far failed to overcome trade deadlocks that would allow poor nations to benefit from a globalised economy. The pace of climate change talks has increased, but not the action. And one year on there is still no international agreement on standards for arms transfers.
Excerpts from the summary of agreements published by Germany on behalf of G8 leaders after their summit in Heiligendamm.
G8 leaders meeting in Germany have vowed to deliver on pledges to Africa, and agreed a $60bn (£30bn) package for fighting Aids, malaria and TB.
Let deeds, not words, be your adorning....
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