Tony Blair on Wednesday arrived for his last Group of Eight (G8) summit as British prime minister, hoping to secure movement on climate change and greater commitments to help Africa.
Blair, who last week completed a three-country tour of Africa, wants more to be done to boost aid to the world’s poorest continent and progress on a new deal to tackle climate change before he leaves office on June 27.
But his dealings with President Vladimir Putin will also be watched closely, because of diplomatic tensions between Britain and Russia following the radiation poisoning death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Europe’s relations with the Kremlin were ”scratchy”, Blair told BBC television on Wednesday before jetting to northern Germany, and it was imperative to resolve the stand-off over the Litvinenko case.
”I think behind the scenes at the G8 there will be the opportunity for people to have a frank conversation about Russia, with Russia,” he said, indicating he would not pull any punches with Putin.
In a separate interview with the Guardian newspaper, he said a row between Moscow and Washington over the siting of an anti-missile defence shield would not drive a wedge between Europe and the United States — or divide Europe.
On Africa, which he has championed during his 10 years in office, Blair has recently sought to refocus G8 leaders on the commitments they made at the 2005 summit he chaired in Gleneagles, Scotland. Blair’s consistent championing of this cause has won him widespread praise.
At last year’s summit, the G8 pledged to offer 100% debt relief and increase aid to poor countries by $50-billion per year by 2010.
Half of that extra cash is earmarked for Africa but monitor groups and NGOs are concerned that the pledges are not being honoured.
Britain believes progress has been made in the last two years but wants G8 nations to re-commit to the Gleneagles agreement. In particular, it wants funding of programmes to tackle the scourge of HIV/Aids and universal access to primary education.
On climate change, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel has put at the top of her summit agenda with Africa, Blair wants his fellow leaders to agree a clear global target on cutting carbon emissions and the process for doing so.
He supports Merkel’s proposal to reduce emissions by 50% of 1990 levels by 2050 and favours the United Nations route for a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
Even before the summit began, however, Washington said the final declaration from the meeting would not set long-term targets for cutting the emissions that cause global warming, apparently dashing Merkel’s hopes of a deal.
London believes agreement with the G8 plus five (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) on targets to cut emissions and a post-Kyoto framework would speed up the existing UN process.
Blair acknowledged the high expectations surrounding the summit.
”Failure is if there is not an agreement that leads to a global deal with substantial reduction in emissions at the heart of it,” he said in an interview published in Wednesday’s edition of the Guardian. — AFP
