8/6/2007
German Chancellor Proclaims G8 Talks a Success

The annual summit of the Group of Eight (G8) ended on Friday in Heiligendamm. "It was a successful summit," German Chancellor Angela Merkel reported. Heads of State and Government of eight leading industrialised nations reached wide-ranging agreements on all key issues on the agenda: from climate protection to Africa policy to the newly launched "Heiligendamm Process".

The industrialised countries want to continue their co-operation with the five biggest emerging economies (O5) in the form of a continuous dialogue. This the German Government, as acting President, will be moderating and actively supporting until the end of this year.
 
At Heiligendamm the dialogue with developing countries and emerging economies, showed how closely interrelated are the main topics on the G8 agenda. For instance as well as having an economic dimension, climate protection also has a bearing on development policy. The same is true of global trade.

Today the leading industrialised nations can no longer meet many of the challenges they face on their own. The big emerging economies - China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa (the so-called O5) - have an increasingly important role to play.

At Heiligendamm both groups agreed to co-operate more closely and on a more continuous basis in what will be called the Heiligendamm Process. The G8 itself, however, will not be expanding to incorporate any further countries.
 
The German Chancellor sggested that meeting once a year during a summit was not enough. A permanent forum for dialogue would be set up for the G8 and the O5 under the umbrella of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The partners intend to achieve tangible results by 2009, for example to protect innovations, to establish fair investment conditions and to oversee climate protection technologies.
 
On the first day of the summit the G8 agreed on the need to establish binding goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases and that these joint efforts should lead into a UN process.
 
The G8 also reiterated their commitment to increase considerably their official development assistance (ODA) for Africa by 2010: by US$25 billion each year. Total G8 ODA will thus increase to $50 billion a year by 2010.
 
The leading industrialised nations also agreed to provide an additional $60 billion a year over the coming years to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, especially for prevention programmes and to strengthen health systems in the least developed countries (LDCs). Germany has pledged €4 billion by 2015.

Meetings of the G8 serve to co-ordinate positions in international bodies and organisations. For example, during new Doha Round trade talks the G8 want to ensure that trade between industrialised and developing countries is made easier. In a joint declaration (G8 Declaration on Trade), they called on all the member states of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to work constructively and flexibly towards that goal. In the coming weeks the trade ministers of the industrialised countries and emerging economies will be meeting to lay the groundwork for what it is hoped will prove to be successful negotiations.