With warm words but few solid promises from US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has tough negotiating ahead to hammer out deals on boosting Africa's poor and tackling climate change in time for next month's summit of rich countries in Scotland.
Bush inched toward Blair's position on writing off impoverished nations' debt and praised his close ally Tuesday for pressing Africa's cause. He offered little to encourage Blair's hopes of mounting a concerted international fight against global warming.
The prime minister travels next week to Moscow, Berlin and Paris to continue his whirlwind campaign to bring leaders of the G-8 group of industrialized nations together on the two issues he has made the centerpiece of Britain's yearlong chairmanship of the club.
"I'm grateful for your vision, and I'm grateful for your leadership on this important subject," aid to Africa, Bush told Blair at a White House news conference. "We're making historic progress in helping the poorest countries in Africa gain a fresh start and to build a future of greater opportunity and prosperity."
The leaders said they were working together on a plan to eliminate poor countries' debt, and Blair said he was hopeful they'd have a deal in time for the July summit at the Scottish resort Gleneagles.
Bush appeared to move toward the British position on a detail that is important to the prime minister, that the money used to cancel debts must not come out of future aid.
The president said the proposal in the works, "by providing additional resources, will preserve the financial integrity of the World Bank and the African Development Bank," which distribute much of the aid.
Bush also promised US$674 million for famine relief in Africa, a commitment Blair described earlier as only a small step toward the US$25 billion he wants rich countries to pledge to add to aid annually in order to double it within three to five years.
The US promises so far may fall short of the huge effort Blair is calling for to help Africa get on its feet with a mix of trade, aid and debt relief.
"We're trying to create a framework in which we deal not just with one of the issues to do with Africa, but all of them together," he said.
"In a situation where literally thousands of children die from preventable diseases every day, it's our duty to act, and we will."
EU nations agreed recently to double aid to Africa, as Blair has urged. Bush said the US has tripled its aid to the continent, and the traditional measure of a country's aid effort -- percentage of gross national product, which shows the US among the most miserly of the rich nations -- was not the right way to measure America's commitment.
Blair echoed much of the language Bush has used in pushing his Millennium Challenge Account program for Africa, which ties aid to good governance.
"It is a two-way commitment," Blair said. "We require the African leadership also to be prepared to make the commitment on governance, against corruption, in favor of democracy, in favor of the rule of law ... What we're not going to do is waste our countries' money."
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS