G8 summit: aid package for Arab spring tops agenda

Two-day summit will also examine impact of the Japanese nuclear meltdown, climate change and the world economy A multibillion package of aid, loans and trade access for the fledgling democracies of north Africa will top a sprawling agenda for world leaders when they gather on Thursday as the G8 in Deauville, Normandy under the chairmanship of the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy. The G8 is expected to organise financial support through global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The two-day summit is also due to examine the impact of the Japanese nuclear meltdown, climate change and the state of the world economy. In a new turn for such gatherings, Sarkozy has invited internet and media industry chiefs, including Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to address the summit on Thursday on the economic and social impact of the internet. In Paris, Sarkozy hosted two days of debate about regulation and innovation ahead of the summit. The G8 support for the Arab spring will be focused on Egypt and Tunisia. The two countries have seen a fall in tourism, a slow down in foreign investment, and continuing high youth unemployment, leading to fears that Islamist parties could do well in elections. The two countries have said they face a combined funding “gap” of about $15bn, (£9bn) and the prime ministers of both will attend a G8 session. The World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, who will attend the summit, has pledged a package of $6bn over two years, and the currently headless IMF is working on a package of its own. The US already indicated that it is looking at a $2bn package of financing. The European countries – Britain, France, Germany and Italy – are pointing to the revision of EU’s neighbourhood policy, announced this week. The EU foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, said 1.24bn euros (£1bn) would be added to the 5.7bn-euro EU “neighbourhood” budget for 2011-13. The EU has adopted a “more funds for more reform” approach, she said. David Cameron, although not a great enthusiast for these gatherings, is likely to focus most heavily on the financial and political support for North Africa. Aid and Africa, once the staples of these summits is slowly slipping down the agenda, partly as countries seek to avoid their failure to live up to commitments made at previous gatherings notably the Gleneagles G8 chaired by Tony Blair in 2005. Britain and France are honourable exceptions to this failure, but aid agencies will be battling for extra funds for to takle maternal mortality in the developing world. The G8 has instituted a formal score card to show whether countries are matching promises made to deeds. Two key issues – the vacancy at the IMF and the air strikes designed to oust colonel Gaddafi – will not feature formally on the agenda. But Sarkozy will lobby on the margins in favour of his finance minister Christine Lagarde, particulalrly with President Obama. Lagarde is regarded as the front runner to become the fifth French IMF chief since the war. In deference to the Russian prescence at the summit, and to a lesser extent Germany, discussions of the military progress in Libya will be kept to the sidelines, although Sarkozy, Obama and David Cameron will look at what more they can do to undermine Gaddafi’s authority. Russia is opposed to the no fly zone and Germany ambivalent. Obama, during his two day state visit in London, has counselled against artificial deadlines and urged patience. The French are more optimistic that Gaddafi’s grip on power is weakening, as defections mount and supplies run dry. The Canadians, chair of last year’s larger Group of 20 leading and emerging nations, is likely to raise the soverign debt crisis in Europe. The G20 in Toronto signed a nonbinding commitment at its summit to halve budget deficits by 2013 and balance budgets from 2016. “What the prime minister will bring to the table is the requirement for the G8 countries to stick to the commitments they made in Toronto with regard to their fiscal consolidation,” the Canadians said. G8 France Europe Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk

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