![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
You are in: Business | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
|
![]() |
Thursday, 27 June, 2002, 22:08 GMT 23:08 UK
G8 agrees Africa action plan
African leaders welcomed the G8 response
Leaders of the world's richest nations have signed an agreement with four African heads of state to promote economic and political development.
The agreement includes support for a military intervention force and a commitment to eradicate polio, but observers say it will not satisfy aid agencies or campaigners for debt relief.
The G8 plan is in response to an initiative by African nations called the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). Nepad would involve African nations committing themselves to reforms in return for aid, trade opportunities and help in resolving conflicts. The G8 Africa Action Plan promises benefits for African countries "whose performance reflects the Nepad commitments". The plan's main points are:
The BBC's Mark Mardell, in Calgary, says the military regional intervention force would be formed by African countries with G8 backing. Its aim would be to stop wars and civil wars which are preventing development in parts of the continent.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, hosting the summit in the Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis, said: "Today we have a deal and a deal that represents a new beginning and fresh hope for the African continent." President Olusegun Obasanjo, of Nigeria, who helped to create the Nepad initiative, said he was satisfied with the agreement, which came of the second and final day of the summit. But he added: "Of course, there is nothing that is human that can be regarded as perfect". African leaders were invited to the summit to present details of Nepad. Other leaders supporting it are Presidents Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.
Mr Chretien failed to get a firm commitment to give a portion of the G8's $12bn a year in new aid promised by the US and European Union at a UN conference in March. On the first day of the summit, G8 leaders agreed to increase debt relief for poorest countries by $1bn. However, aid agencies said the relief programme would barely make up for the fall in commodity prices such as coffee and cotton on which many developing nations' economies are reliant. Other summit developments:
Canada has mounted its largest peacetime security operation for the summit. Demonstrators, barred from the mountain retreat, chanted and banged drums in marches in Calgary, some 55 miles (90km) away and in a rain-drenched Canadian capital, Ottawa.
![]()
|
![]() |
See also:
![]()
28 Jun 02 | Africa
Internet links:
![]() The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Business stories now:
![]() ![]() Links to more Business stories are at the foot of the page.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Links to more Business stories |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> | To BBC World Service>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |