G-8 summit opens with special session on Africa

>From Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Hokkaido, Japan

Hokkaido, July 7, GNA - Leaders of the world's most industrialized countries on Monday began their three-day annual summit on the Hokkaido Island resort of Toyako, with a special session on Africa attended by President John Agyekum Kufuor and his colleague Heads of State from Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia and Algeria. Also participating were African Union (AU) Commission Chairman, Mr Jean Ping and World bank President Robert Zoellick.

The summit is being held at a time of a global commodity market crisis caused by spiralling food and crude oil prices, leading to a growing criticism against the G-8 for not keeping development aid pledges made to Africa.

The soaring oil price is threatening to erode modest economic gains made by Africa over the last decade, a major worry to the continent's leaders.

Out of the Eight, United States (US), Germany and United Kingdom (UK) are the only ones making progress to deliver on their pledges. President Kufuor and the other African leaders therefore are using the opportunity to demand urgent action to deal with the oil and food crisis and G-8 accountability by way of keeping faith with development assistance packages they had promised.

Ahead of the session on Africa, US President George Bush had underscored the need for the Club of the world's rich, who together account for 65 percent of the global economic output, to honour financial pledges to lift Africa out of poverty.

"It is not enough for G-8 leaders to meet and issue declarations and make good promises, the G-8 members need to follow through with actions."

President Bush, Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, are discussing Africa's development, the global economy with its rising food and fuel cost, climate change and nuclear non-proliferation as priority issues.

Host nation, Japan and the US had earlier spoken about the need for immediate action against the food and oil crisis to stabilize the world's economy.

They however did not give details as to what was going to be done to stem the crisis.