The first G7 gathering took place in 1975, the start of a history of broken pledges, verbose communiqués and intangible commitments by the rich world to do something about Africa.
At the last British G8 in Birmingham in 1998, British Prime Minister Tony Blair sounded hopeful. The final communiqué said: ”We are encouraged by the new spirit of hope and progress in Africa. The challenges are acute, but confidence that they can be overcome is growing.”
Vague promises to reduce bilateral debt were included in the communiqué. Indeed, G8 summits dealt with debt relief for low-income countries on six separate occasions between agreeing to the Toronto terms in 1988 and concluding the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative at the G8 summit in Cologne in 1999.
But, according to research by the G8 research unit, the absence of a permanent G8 bureaucracy, changing political leaderships and overburdened summit agendas have robbed Africa of continuity and attention.
The latest round of African initiatives — developed by Blair through his Commission for Africa — started at the Genoa summit in 2001.
This was the first summit attended by five African leaders. It was at this summit that African states unveiled the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), which they claimed was ”anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves from underdevelopment”.
The following year, at a G8 summit in Canada, the G8 agreed to the Action Plan for Africa. Its aim was to establish ”a new partnership between the countries of Africa and our own, based on mutual responsibility and respect”. But it lacked specifics and deadlines — a test of the Gleneagles deal will be whether it goes further.
Since then, Britain, France and Germany have increased their African aid budgets, while Canada set up a C$500-million Canada fund for Africa. Japan and the United States have not increased aid. Indeed, in 2003 the combined aid budgets of the G8 countries as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product was only 0,24% — in 1960 it was 0,48%
There was emphasis on good governance as well as support for the new African peer review mechanism.
By the time of the 2003 G8 summit in Evian, attention was focused on Iraq, although the summit did contain some Africa-specific commitments.
The next G8 summit in Sea Island focused on promoting democracy in the Middle East — although the communiqué contained standard references to ”greater and effective trade liberalisation”.
At Gleneagles, Blair hopes to go further — but the test will be not just what is agreed at the summit, but what is done after it is over. — Â