Rich country leaders wrestle with shaky world economy
TOYAKO, Japan (AFP) — Leaders of the world's rich industrial nations met Tuesday in a bid to thrash out a common strategy to stem record rises in oil and food prices and ensure food security.
The Group of Eight leaders meeting in Japan will focus the second day of their summit on the crisis that is fuelling inflation, sparking food riots and threatening to damage global economic growth.
"The leaders are scheduled to discuss the world economy and focus on how to deal with inflation and a surge in prices of primary commodities," said a Japanese foreign ministry official.
A day after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon joined African leaders in calling on the G8 to make good on its promises to boost aid to Africa, the leaders will focus on fighting global inflation and stabilising financial markets.
Agreeing on some form of united action to stop already record crude oil prices from reaching new highs will be central to the talks in the luxury lakeside hotel in the Hokkaido island resort town of Toyako.
"The leaders will also discuss the surge in oil prices," the foreign ministry official said.
"This is one of the most important issues at this summit. Leaders are expected to show their concerns and voice the need for concerted action by G8," he said.
The price of oil has risen five fold in the last five years and has doubled in the past year alone. Crude stood at 141.37 dollars Monday.
G8 leaders are also expected to discuss the stalled Doha round of the World Trade organisation talks and the role of speculation in overheating the oil market, but leaders are divided on that point.
Seven African leaders joined the G8 leaders Monday and urged them to tackle spiking oil and food prices, which are aggravating the already desperate plight in the continent, and to urgently fulfil past promises of financial aid.
Ban Ki-moon, who attended the start of the summit, backed African leaders and called on G8 nations to live up to their promises to double aid for Africa by 2010.
"The world faces three simultaneous crises -- a food crisis, a climate crisis and a development crisis," Ban told reporters. "The three crises are deeply interconnected and need to be addressed as such."
But delegates said that one sticking point was whether to set a timeframe for rich nations to spend 60 billion dollars to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa, as pledged at last year's G8 summit in Germany.
Britain is pushing for the most ambitious goal of promising the money within a few years, while on the other extreme Canada has opposed setting any timeframe, G8 sources said.
Aid groups, accusing the leaders of attempting to backtrack on the issue, were pushing for the leaders to reconfirm their commitment made in Britain in 2005 to provide 50 billion dollars in extra aid by 2010, half of it earmarked for Africa.
"We must see the 50 billion dollars aid promise back in the communique," said Max Lawson of Oxfam International.
Aid groups accused some of the G8 nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- of walking away from earlier commitments.
G8 leaders also pushed for sanctions on Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe secured a sixth term last month in a widely condemned election in which his only rival dropped out citing violence.
US President George W. Bush said after meeting with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, the head of the African Union, that he was "extremely disappointed" in the poll, which he labelled a "sham election."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will back a UN Security Council resolution tabled last week by the United States imposing sanctions on Mugabe's regime, which "tarnishes the image of all of Africa", a source close to him said.
The leaders will also try to thrash out some agreement on climate change despite opposing views on how to tackle the issue by G8 leaders.
