G8 Summit Opens on Growth, Development and Security

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 03, 2003

G8 Summit Opens on Growth, Development and Security

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The 2003 summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries opened in Evian, France Monday for discussions on a broad range of issues covering economic growth, development, solidarity and Africa as well as international security.

The annual G-8 summit brings together the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia for discussions on broad political and economic issues in the developed world.

Speaking after the EU-Russia summit in St. Petersburg, Russia on Saturday, French President Jacques Chirac said the G8's targets are an agenda for the world order of tomorrow covering growth, development, environment, the situation in the African continent, water and a range of other issues.

He said these issues "will have nothing to do with the differences that have occurred."

The 2003 G8 summit will mainly focus on the issue of how to revive sluggish economic growth in the major industrialized countries, with Japan, Germany and Italy on the edge of recession, and growth in most other G8 countries sluggish.

However, the global fight against terror, arms proliferation, regional conflicts, the issue of Iraq, the Middle East peace process and the nuclear crisis of the Democratic People's Republicof Korea (DPRK) will also be among major topics on the agenda of the summit.

The repair of relations among G8 countries damaged over Iraq --particularly relations between France and the United States -- appears to be another major issue of concern at the summit.

Chirac, whose country was firmly opposed to the US-led invasion of Iraq, shook hands briefly with US President George W. Bush after he arrived in France Sunday for the summit. Both leaders were smiling and looked happy before flashing cameras. Bush's presence here means the first of its kind since relations between France and the United States were strained over Iraq earlier this year.

Last weekend, Bush said that he wanted Europe and the United States to bury the hatchet over Iraq.

Speaking to reporters Sunday, Chirac said his exchanges with Bush in the day were "very positive."

At the G8 working session on Monday morning, Chirac sat side by side with Bush, chatting and again smiling.

Despite the handshaking and smiling, G8 countries are locked indifference over the failure to find evidence to support the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a key justification for the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Bush will however leave Evian just after lunch on Monday, a day ahead of the scheduled end of the 2003 G8 summit, and will travel to the Middle East to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A British government spokesman said recently that the G8 will issue a declaration on terrorism and curbing the spread of weapons of mass destruction at the end of the summit.

In the economic field, there are conflicting reports on whether the G8 leaders will discuss the recent slide of the dollar and the surging euro at the current summit.

Euro, which first traded in January 1999, soared to an all-time high of 1 against 1.1914 dollars last week before slipping back to1.1791 on Friday.

The situation on the African continent is again on the agenda of discussion for Monday. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged the G8 not to neglect the developing world, and to slash farm subsidies and boost debt relief.

The summit was preceded by the informal South-North dialogue meeting between the heads of state or government from 11 developing countries -- China, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Mexico, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and India and the leaders of the Group of Eight as well as leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization on Sunday. The G8 leaders also held talks with leaders of NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa's Development), which groups Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal, on Sunday.

The informal south-north leaders dialogue meeting focused on fighting AIDS and boosting aid to poor countries.

Speaking to reporters late Sunday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said that the European Union had agreed to commit one billion dollars a year to a global fund to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

In an address to the informal south-north leaders dialogue meeting, Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward a package of proposals for world development and cooperation covering the adoption of resolute steps to boost global economic growth, pursuance of peaceful co-existence and maintenance of diversity ofthe world, strengthening of multilateral cooperation to promote the establishment of a new world economic order, and the strengthening of support for enriching south-north cooperation.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Chinese president held separate talks with Chirac and Bush on bilateral relations and major international issues of common concern.

As world leaders met for the informal dialogue, street clashes raged between anti-globalization protesters and security forces in neighboring Switzerland.

Swiss riot police fired tear gas on stone-throwing protesters in Geneva after a night of rioting, and battled activists in nearby Lausanne who had torched barricades. Some 400 people were reportedly arrested.

The violence came as tens of thousands of anti-globalization activists marched Sunday from Geneva and the French town of Annemasse which is close to Evian -- the venue of the G8 summit --to hold demonstration against the policies of the G8.

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