2002 G8 Summit to Include Day-Long Session on Africa
Political leaders meeting at this year's G8 summit in Canada will spend one day discussing African issues, including HIV/AIDS, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. The annual G8 summit -- which includes representatives from the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and Russia -- will be held on June 26-27 in Kananaskis, Alberta. Although the meeting traditionally only includes leaders from each of these eight countries, it will for the first time this year be open to five African leaders -- the presidents of Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal -- and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will attend the day-long session on Africa on June 27. Robert Fowler, Canada's ambassador to Italy, said that the attendees will discuss African issues based on the premise that "40 years of development assistance in Africa hasn't been enormously successful" and that the majority of African countries are currently "going backward instead of forward" in areas such as HIV/AIDS and education. Fowler said that the G8 attendees hope to develop a plan of action that will address such "basic needs" as food, water, health care and education (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 5/28). At last year's G8 summit, held in Genoa, Italy, leaders pledged their support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/23/01).
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