Group of Eight and Poverty in Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Group of Eight and Poverty in Africa - Essay Example Questions of East-West economic relations, energy, and terrorism have also been of recurrent concern. From this initial foundation the summit agenda has broadened considerably to include microeconomic issues such as employment and the information highway, transnational issues such as the environment, crime and drugs, and a host of political-security issues ranging from human rights through regional security to arms control. According to UN estimates, poor countries need $45 per person per year in aid in order to have any chance of winning the fight against poverty and reaching the Millennium Development Goals. All four countries currently affected by the West Africa food crisis receive less than this. Mali receives $19 per head, Mauritania $20 and Burkina Faso $13. Africa's 48 countries have people who want for their children education, good health, security and opportunity. They want a voice, a chance to make a better life for them and respect for their human rights. It is a continent where even though some progress has been made, the fact remains that few, if any, of the Sub-Saharan African countries are likely to achieve the goal of reducing the proportion of those living in absolute poverty by half by 2015. Instead the number of the poor in the region is estimated to grow by 45 million over the next 12 years. The richest countries of the world, as represented by the G8, have a responsibility to help the poorest. This is not just charity, but a moral obligation. The world's wealthiest countries have emitted more than their fair share of greenhouse gases. Resultant floods, droughts and other climate change impacts continue to fall disproportionately on the world's poorest people and countries, many of which are in Africa. Finance Ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations have agreed to cancel at least $40 billion in debt owed by the world's 18 poorest nations (Cowell, 2005). Under the agreement, 18 countries - Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, will receive immediate forgiveness for more than $40 billion they owe to the World Bank, African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund (Blustein, 2005). The deal will save the initial 18 countries about $1.5 billion annually that they could use toward health care, education and poverty alleviation programs, according to British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. (New York Times, 2005). An additional nine African countries likely will qualify for debt forgiveness once they have satisfied IMF and World Bank requirements for good governance and sound economic policies. The agreement also requires G8 countries to compensate the World Bank and AFDB at a total cost of $16.7 billion, based on the payments the lenders would have received from the 18 countries between now and 2015. The debt-forgiveness cost to the IMF will be absorbed by the institution's already existing resources. The United States agreed to pay up to $1.75 billion to the lenders over the next decade, and the United Kingdom agreed to pay up to $960 million (New York Times, 2005). Germany will pay between $848 million and $1.2 billion to the World Bank an