allAfrica.com: Africa: G8 Nations Release Summit Document on Development and Africa (Page 1 of 4)

Development

40. At the mid-point to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), although progress has been made, significant challenges remain. We renew our commitment to these goals by reinvigorating our efforts, and by strengthening our partnerships with, as well as encouraging the efforts of, the developing countries based on mutual accountability. The OECD/DAC estimated the global increase of official development assistance (ODA) by 2010 at around US$ 50 billion a year. We are firmly committed to working to fulfill our commitments on ODA made at Gleneagles, and reaffirmed at Heiligendamm, including increasing, compared to 2004, with other donors, ODA to Africa by US$ 25 billion a year by 2010. We commend the successful replenishments of the resources of the International Development Association, the African Development Fund and the Asian Development Fund in which G8 countries provided nearly 75% of donor's contributions and we acknowledge that ODA from G8 and other donors to Africa should be reassessed and may need to be increased for the period after 2010, beyond our current commitments. We expect that the UN High-level Meeting on MDGs in September will provide a timely and important opportunity to demonstrate commitment, to review progress, and to identify remaining challenges and necessary coordinated international and country-led actions to overcome them. We look forward to the UN Secretary-General's MDG Africa Steering Group's recommendations. We also reiterate that our focus on development cooperation should be on the promotion of good governance and self-sustained, private sector-led economic growth in developing countries.

41. In tackling the development agenda, we will take a multi-faceted approach, promoting synergies among MDG-related development sectors particularly among health, water and education, in a framework of sustainable development. In this regard, our work will be grounded in the set of core principles of development policy that we endorsed at Heiligendamm, including promoting good governance based on transparency and rule of law and broad-based private sector-led growth. We will promote a 'participatory approach', involving all key players and stakeholders. We will work together, and with other countries, in a complementary manner, to address global health priorities and deliver on existing health commitments. We will also work to improve human security through protection and empowerment of individuals and communities. In addition, we emphasize the importance of education, science and technology as a means to facilitate development. We will promote gender equality and women's empowerment as a principle in our development cooperation through mainstreaming and specific actions. We will reaffirm during the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness our commitment to make our aid more effective based on the Paris Declaration principles. We continue to encourage innovative approaches to leverage private investments in connection with domestic public financing and official development assistance.

42. We renew our commitment to support the development agenda agreed in the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development which underscored the importance of mobilizing all available sources for development including ODA, foreign direct investment and other private flows, trade, debt relief, innovative financing, and domestic resources. We will contribute to the success of the Follow-up Conference on Financing for Development in Doha thereby giving fresh impetus to the Monterrey Agenda and the global partnership launched there.

43. Peace and security are fundamental to states' ability to meet the needs of their people. Fragile and post-conflict states remain farthest from reaching the MDGs. Overcoming fragility and successful recovery requires comprehensive, integrated and sustained international assistance, including peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts where necessary, tailored to the particular context. Coherent and complementary responses of all relevant countries including the G8, and international organizations can break the cycle of misery and despair and help set countries on the track to MDG attainment.

44. We acknowledge the importance of facilitating remittance flows given their development impacts. The G8 conference on remittances in Berlin in November 2007 reviewed the actions agreed at the Sea Island Summit in 2004. In this context, we will follow-up the seven recommendations adopted at the Berlin conference on improving data, development impact, remittance services, access to finance, innovative channels and on the creation of a Global Remittances Working Group. We appreciate the work done by international financial institutions in this regard and invite the World Bank to facilitate the work of the group and provide for coordination.

Health

45. As a result of its growing political and financial commitment to fight infectious diseases, the G8 has raised international awareness on global health issues and contributed to remarkable improvements on health in partner countries, notably access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care; stabilization of tuberculosis incidence; increased coverage of innovative tools such as insecticide-treated nets against malaria; impressive falls in measles deaths; and considerable progress on polio which is closer to eradication than ever before. Investment through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria together with national efforts, bilateral and other multilateral programs has enabled recipient countries to save more than 2.5 million lives to date. The Second Voluntary Replenishment Conference held in Berlin in 2007 raised US$ 9.7 billion for expanded activities during the period 2008-2010. But many challenges remain toward reaching the health-related MDGs. G8 members are determined to honor in full their specific commitments to fight infectious diseases, namely malaria, tuberculosis, polio and working towards the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care by 2010. In this regard, we welcome the report submitted by our health experts along with its attached matrices, showing G8 implementation of past commitments to ensure accountability. Building on the Saint Petersburg commitments to fight infectious diseases, the experts' report sets forth the 'Toyako Framework for Action', which includes the principles for action, and actions to be taken on health, drawing on the expertise of international institutions. We also agreed to establish a follow-up mechanism to monitor our progress on meeting our commitments.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories