This year’s G-8 summit will convene at a Canadian resort in Alberta on June 26-27. The Canadian authorities have chosen a forest location for the summit to keep protesting demonstrators at a safe distance. The organizers might also have wanted to hold it at a place inaccessible to terrorists.
The choice of the venue also suggests that the decisions to be made at the summit will be against the interests of the millions of poor in the world. The G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting held prior to the summit meeting focused on three subjects — global economic development, concerted efforts for African development and the eradication of international terrorism.
Even though the summit’s agenda does not include the Middle East crisis, the region’s increasing complications are sure to make the participants discuss it from an American perspective. The discussions are also likely to include the US determination to strike Iraq, overriding European objections. The US administration is seemingly determined to redraw the map of the Middle East and restructure its policies in a way that serves American interests with scant regard for the interests of its European allies.
The interests of the other participants in the summit, however, need not always be identical with the American interests. They will, no doubt, discuss the latest international issues such as developments in the Balkans, the standoff between India and Pakistan, nuclear disarmament and Washington’s missile program.
The G-8 members are irked by the projected slowdown in international economic progress that they fear will cast its shadow on the rich countries. The economic forecasts have already warned the eight industrially advanced countries that the growth of their economies will be minimal this year.
Several financial experts attribute the present economic problems to the stark imbalance in the economic distribution between the rich and poor countries. If the G-8 countries are earnest in their attempts to solve the economic woes of the less fortunate countries which will in turn guarantee the protection of the interests of the rich countries as well, they will have to find effective ways to halt the widening gap between the rich and poor nations. This must be done in light of globalization which protects the interests of the rich countries only.
The participants in the present summit should also take urgent steps to implement the decisions of the Genoa meeting that highlighted the need for promoting globalization side by side with steps to remove its negative impacts. This can be achieved by adopting liberalized, dynamic and progressive economic policies.
In order to achieve international economic stability, priority should be given to solving the African economic issues. In Africa, 40 percent of the people are living below the poverty line which means most people earn less than a dollar a day. Unfortunately, the decisions made at the Genoa to combat poverty in Africa have not yet been implemented. On the eve of the summit, it must be stressed that protection of the economies of the developed countries should not be sought by ignoring their responsibilities toward developing and poor countries. The G-8 leaders must also realize that their interests are linked with the interests of poor countries as well.
