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UN chief urges G8 to honor commitments to aid Africa

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-07 21:17

TOYAKO, Japan  -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Monday that the Group of Eight (G8) nations should take concrete action to implement their commitments made in 2005 to double their aid to Africa by 2010.

Ban made the remarks at a press conference here on the sidelines of the G summit, which opened Monday in the northern Japanese resort of Toyako.

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"The G leaders should implement what they committed in Gleneagles by providing necessary funds," Ban said, noting that Africa also demands better predictability in aid and aid efficiency.

At its 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the G8 agreed to double aid to Africa to 50  billion US dollars by 2010 to alleviate global poverty.

But a report last month by the Africa Progress Panel, which was set up to monitor the implementation of the Gleneagles commitments, said that under current spending plans, the G8 will fall 40 billion short of its target.

He said that this year marks the half-way point in the global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, "but that progress in many African countries is not on track."

The African countries are confronted with crisis of food, climate change and development, he said, noting concerted efforts from developed countries are urgently needed to help African countries to tackle the crisis.

The issue of African poverty topped the agenda at the start of the three-day G8 summit, closely linked with rising food and fuel prices and  fight against global warming, which the leaders will tackle later in the week.

On Monday, the G8 leaders joined the outreach working session on Africa with leaders of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and the head of the African Union.

Also at the press conference, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the leaders also discussed a system to better track the aid to ensure commitments were honored.

"Countries need to deliver on their promises, and that was the tone that was generally accepted in the discussion," he said.