The global Make Poverty History campaign had great hope that the July summit of eight leading industrial nations would take a major leap towards alleviating the debt of poorer countries. "The Group of Eight started well with cancelling US$40 billion worth of debt," Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote in an editorial prior to the summit. "Now let them continue in that direction and change the trade laws."
The summit, however, proved to be a disappointment for many. "This is not the historic breakthrough the global campaign was looking for. This was a chance to set Africa on an irreversible path of growth and development. Instead the G8 have agreed to come up with an additional US$20 billion but in five years time. There are still too many countries saddled with unpayable debts," says Mulima Kufekisa, head of Zambia's Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission.
"We were promised a new deal on trade between rich and poor countries but it's business as usual," said Charles Abugre, Christian Aid's head of policy, afterwards. "The G8 will continue to extract maximum concessions out of poor countries at the World Trade Organization."
The G8 countries are: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. – ENI
