British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to try to push poverty reduction back onto the group of eight (G8) agenda in a speech on Monday, warning it will take “hard work for years to come” to tackle extreme poverty in Africa.
Blair was expected to restate his commitment to the aims set out last year at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland: a $50-billion increase in annual development aid, including $25-billion for Africa, by 2010.
In the central London speech, excerpts of which have already been released, he was also set to formally launch an independent group to monitor the financial commitments made to the poorest nations.
The Africa Progress Panel — a recommendation of the Commission for Africa Blair set up in 2004 — will be co-chaired by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and include Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.
Live8 concert organiser Bob Geldof will also be involved, as will Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The panel will produce an annual report to be submitted to the UN, G8 and Africa Partnership Forum.
Blair, who has said that the situation in Africa is a “stain” on the conscience of the world’s wealthy nations, hopes the panel will “maintain the international political profile of Africa achieved in 2005”.
He is set to praise what was achieved at Gleneagles as “more than all but those with the most rose-tinted spectacles thought was possible”.
“These issues were not high up the political agenda in the United Kingdom, let alone internationally. Now they are.”
But he is also due to warn: “Just because these issues are the top of the agenda now, it doesn’t mean they couldn’t easily slip down again. We must not let that happen. I will do everything I can to ensure they don’t.”
The aid increases are combined with debt write-offs and a push for universal access to HIV/Aids treatment.
“We set some ambitious aims at Gleneagles. We have made good progress. But it will take hard work for years to come to eliminate poverty in Africa and tackle climate change,” Blair was due to say.
British charity Oxfam earlier this month said aid increases from the world’s richest nations to Africa were not enough to meet the pledges made at Gleneagles.
But its director, Barbara Stocking, welcomed the panel as “a serious and credible international task force, which is what was needed to maintain the progress on the G8’s promises”.
“The key thing now is to ensure that the membership reflects the geographical spread and expertise needed to deliver on every one of the G8’s commitments,” she added.
The next G8 meeting takes place in St Petersburg, Russia, next month and the leaders of the world’s leading industrial countries are likely to focus more on energy supply and security. — AFP