The G8 wealthiest nations yesterday pledged US$60 billion to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa, and to uphold an earlier pledge to boost its development aid.
"We are aware of our responsibilities and will fulfil our obligations," German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hosting G8 leaders, told reporters on the final day of the summit.
Campaigners complain that rich nations have fallen behind on commitments made to double development aid at a summit in 2005 in Gleneagles, Scotland. Many were unimpressed with the deal.
Leaders agreed to earmark US$60 billion to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, global diseases that have devastated African peoples and their economies.
Of that US$30 billion has already been pledged by the US.
Among the pledges, the leaders made three "significant dollar commitments" to support action on mother-to-child, pediatric treatments, maternal and child health totalling US$4.8 billion.
They agreed to allow local production of drugs such as anti-retrovirals for HIV/AIDS patients to ensure cheaper prices for medication.
They also agreed to cut the prevalence of malaria in 30 African countries, which is responsible for 80 percent of deaths, cutting deaths in half.
But the declaration set out no specific timetable, saying the money would flow "over the coming years." Neither did it break down individual countries' contributions.
Campaigners for Africa say the pledge is made up largely of money which has already been announced.
"While lives will be saved with more money for AIDS, this represents a cap on ambition that will ultimately cost millions more lives," said Steve Cockburn of the Stop AIDS Campaign.
He said the pledge falls short of UN targets which oblige G8 nations to spend US$15 billion per year to combat AIDS alone through to 2010.
In comparison, the deal looks like committing them to about US$12 billion per year for all three diseases.
Leaders also reiterated an overall pledge made in 2005 to raise annual aid levels by US$50 billion by 2010, US$25 billion of which is for Africa.
"The important thing is that we have recommitted ourselves to all the commitments we made a couple of years ago," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Campaigners weren't convinced.
"Despite last minute face saving measures, the G8 has failed its credibility test on Africa," said Collins Magalasi, ActionAids's country director for South Africa.
Blair and Merkel stressed they expect African leaders to fight corruption and boost transparency so donors can track aid.
Leaders of six African nations joined the G8 heads yesterday for their talks on aid.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion