- The Guardian,
- Friday July 20 2001
Pressure on the leaders to deliver more than a bland communique has risen as a result of the protesters massed on the other side of Genoa's ring of steel.
The G8 is aware that the summit comes at a time when its legitimacy is being called into question by opponents who charge it with being an unaccountable elite, yet the level of cooperation among members is weaker than it has been at any time in the recent past.
In what may be the most trouble-packed agenda since the summit process started amid the oil shocks of the 70s, the G8 will find itself at odds over the faltering world economy, climate change, missile defence, and trade.
Transatlantic disagreements will dominate both days of talks, with Germany's Gerhard Schröder and France's Jacques Chirac angry at George Bush's decision to withdraw US backing for the Kyoto protocol, which is aimed at cutting emissions of greenhouse gases.
Mr Bush is expected to hit back by criticising the failure of Europe to act as an engine for world economic growth following the sharp downturn in the US over the past year.
The White House plans to use the meeting to explain Mr Bush's new missile defence plan to Russia's Vladimir Putin, who is deeply suspicious of the US intention to tear up the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty. Tony Blair will support the US claim that the post-cold war world requires a new approach.
Differences also persist between Washington and Brussels over what should be on the agenda for a new round of trade liberalisation talks, which the World Trade Organisation hopes to launch in Doha, Qatar, later this year.
Officials said yesterday that the gap between the sides was narrowing, and expressed hope that the summit would provide a political push to restart the talks which collapsed in Seattle in December 1999.
The leaders will hope to defuse opposition to globalisation by signing up to a new £700m health fund that builds on the debt relief already offered to the world's poorest countries by improving medical care and providing wider access to drugs.
But debt campaigners said yesterday that it was premature for the G8 to move on to issues such as health and education when many poorer countries faced financial problems as a result of falling commodity prices, rising energy costs, and slower global growth.
Jubilee plus - the successor to Jubilee 2000 - said that each of the 23 nations granted debt relief under the heavily indebted poor country (HIPC) initiative so far "will soon have unsustainable debts; they will be back where they were before HIPC started".
British officials said that debt relief had been worth £37.5bn to those countries that had qualified for help, and that both the health fund and a new trade round would provide benefits to developing countries.
They estimated that moves to cut tariffs and open up markets would boost the global economy by £280bn a year, with developing countries gaining a quarter of that.
Conscious that the protesters have focussed on the gap between the rich and poor nations, one official said: "The G8 is working together on poverty reduction. The recent focus has been on debt relief, which is very important. This year we are mapping out a broader agenda for sustainable growth."
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