ASIA/JAPAN - Forming the backdrop for the G8 Summit: the world food crisis, the climate issue and financial speculations, along with the Pope’s appeal to focus on “the needs of the weakest and poorest peoples.”

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Today, July 7, marks the beginning of the G8 Summit which will run until July 9. The Summit is taking place on the island of Hokkaido (Japan) and is a meeting held among the leaders of the wealthiest countries on the planet (USA, Japan, Great Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Russia). It is an event that this time will focus on the food crisis as a result of the global financial crisis and the increase in fuel prices as well as the prices of many basic agricultural goods necessary for the survival of millions of people. Among the issues to be discussed are the changing climate and the spread of poverty. The first day will especially focus on development in Africa, as one of the main goals of the Japanese government is that of reaching the Objectives for the Millenium. However among their other goals is that of placing a deadline for the reduction of emission of gases responsible for the greenhouse effect, with the Japanese pressing for a 50 percent reduction by 2050 and the Europeans – along with environmentalist groups – who would rather shoot for a 20 percent reduction by 2020. Yet it will not be easy to reach an agreement, as the United States and Canada have already stated that the G8 Summit is not the proper place for such decisions.
In light of this fact, it should also be considered that the leading countries in the production of greenhouse gases, like India and China, are not included in the restricted G8 “club” and, therefore, would not be involved in making these essential decisions. This is another matter for discussion for this summit meeting: whether or not to open the Summit to India, China, and Brazil, that is to say, to the emerging economic powers of Asia and Latin America.
In the opening session of the workshops, dedicated to Africa, participants will include the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and the leaders of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania. Yesterday, in fact, during his Angelus address in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict XVI made an appeal to the leaders of the G8 to take urgent measures in resolving the problems that derive from poverty, climate changes, and sicknesses. He said, “I address the participants in the Hokkaido-Toyako meeting, so that at the heart of their deliberations they will put the needs of the weakest and poorest peoples, whose vulnerability has increased because of speculation and financial turbulence and its adverse effects on the price of food and energy.”
Caritas Internationalis, along with the Catholic network CIDSE (International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity) has emphasized the point of “helping developing countries” in a document that was released on the occasion of the G8 taking place in Japan. The document reads: “By 2004 overall global development aid had increased to $75 billion a year, an improvement over previous years. In 2005 the European Union pledged to achieve a collective target of 0.56% of Gross National Income (GNI) by 2010 and 0.70% by 2015. The G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005 reiterated these European commitments.” Caritas also insists that four years later, many of the major donors from the European Union are still “off-track.” And the document continues, saying: “development assistance in 2007 was US$62,095 million (0.40% of GNI), including US$6,949 million in debt relief grants. Their total aid, net of debt relief (US$55,146 million), represents 0.36% of GNI.” Therefore, the investments are still too low, and they are in fact declining, on the part of the wealthier nations towards the underdeveloped areas of the planet.
Today, the members of the G8 have a great challenge being placed before them, of going back to the drawing board, to the objectives set for 2010. According to Caritas, “the assumption underlying these commitments, shared by civil society and politicians alike, is that aid can make a real difference to the lives to the poor and is an essential component in any strategy to achieve the MDGs. Indeed, we celebrate the progress that is being made in so many countries because they have governments which are genuinely committed to poverty reduction and have shown that they can make good use of the resources at their disposal.” In 2008, the millenium objectives need to be followed-up, with precise efforts made on the important issues that today are at the heart of the Hokkaido summit, so that they will not remain a dead letter. (Mtp) (Agenzia Fides 7/7/2008)