G8: Summits and summits

Certain summits invite disbelief, and the G8 summit of the world's wealthiest and most industrially advanced countries convened in the Japanese city of Sapporo on the remote, northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. The inauspicious meeting was dismissed by critics as nothing but a talking shop, even though the Japanese authorities were careful to ensure that anti-globalisation activists were kept at bay. The leaders of the G8 countries met for their annual gathering amid much international rancour and resentment. The pledges by the rich countries to help the world's poorest nations have been systematically disregarded. Social and economic conditions in many of the developing countries of the South have deteriorated to such an extent that the sharp rise in food and fuel prices threatens to erode the gains sustained over the past two decades in democratisation and political reform. Worse, social unrest, even upheaval, looms large on the horizon.

The portents are increasingly ominous. Leaders of the world's richest nations met with African leaders assembled in nearby, and even more remote Toyako. The venue was chosen especially to avoid the anti- globalisation and environmentalist activists. The focus of the talks with Africans was to find solutions to the crises caused by the spiralling food prices. The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, attempted to assure the African leaders who trekked to Toyako. "We will be working for real commitments from this G8, not only reinforcing ones taken last year but also, if possible, to go beyond that with a mid-term commitment." Barroso's words were taken with a pinch of salt.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/905/in4.htm