NEWS & MEDIA

President Mbeki Attending G8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, USA

President Thabo Mbeki, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, are attending the G8 summit under the theme -Freedom, Prosperity and Security-on 10 June 2004, at the Sea Island, Georgia, USA.

President Mbeki has been invited together with Presidents Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, John Kufour of Ghana, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to participate in the Summit by President George Bush, the current Chair of G8.

This year's Summit discussions with African leaders are expected to focus among others on: NEPAD; HIV/AIDS, communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and polio, peace and security as well as the private sector led growth and poverty alleviation.

Over the past few years it has now become customary for Chairpersons of the G8 to invite African leaders for a working luncheon discussions with a view to sharing ideas on advancing the economic revival programme of the African continent-NEPAD.

This has gone a long way towards strengthening strategic relations between the African continent and leaders of the developed world in the form of the G8. In this regard, successive Chairpersons of the G8 have made financial obligations towards meeting the objectives of NEPAD including the adoption of the G8 Africa Action Plan.

President Bush's invitation to the African leaders thus underlines the important relationship that the G8 has with Africa, and reflects the continued commitment of the G8 Africa Action Plan in support of the NEPAD.

South Africa's delegation to the Summit will include, South Africa's Ambassador to the United States, Ms Barbara Masekela.

Developments during G8 Summits since 1995 have been:

BACKGROUND

NEPAD OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED DURING THE 2003 EVIAN G8 SUMMIT

• The G8 expressed satisfaction with the progress report made by African leaders on the implementation of NEPAD.
• African Leaders expressed satisfaction regarding the report on the G8 Africa Action Plan.
• Agreement between both sides was reached on the fact that NEPAD is a long-term program of between 15 to 20 years that required ongoing engagement. Therefore there was agreement as to the need to continue to strengthen the partnership between Africa and the developed world by way of a broadened and structured engagement to include other development partners.
• The G8 leaders supported the joint Africa/G8 Plan to enhance African capacity to support peace-keeping operations.
• African leaders welcomed the US announcement of US$15 billion over 5 years for the treatment of HIV/Aids in Africa and the Caribbean.
• The EU responded by pledging to spend US$1 billion per year towards the Global Health Fund.
• The G8 committed to support long term agricultural sustainability and food security and to respond to emergency food aid needs of Africa.
• Africa welcomed the announcement of the G8 on water, while France promised to double their support for water in Africa.
• The G8 Summit committed support in meeting the MDGs and the Johannesburg WSSD Plan of Action in this regard.
• Agreement was reached that strong political leadership was required to address the slow progress in achieving the goals of the WTO Doha Development Round and the current deadlock in the Geneva negotiations ahead of the Cancun Ministerial Conference, particularly in the area of agricultural subsidies and other destabilising support measures.
• The G8 leaders recognised the slow progress on the issue of debt and undertook to provide leadership to ensure that they met commitments made in this regard at their Kananaskis Summit last year.

Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa at 082-990-4853

Department of Foreign Affairs
P/Bag X152
Pretoria
0001

07 June 2004