[Title] Update on Africa (G8 St. Petersburg Summit)
Our commitments
Since the late 1990s, G8 Summits have given Africa a high priority. At Gleneagles last year the G8 agreed to a further set of measures to reduce poverty and support sustainable development in Africa. We are continuing to work in partnership with Africa, in particular in support of the AU and NEPAD, with a special focus this year on infectious diseases, education and energy security. This report reviews progress on G8 commitments on Africa since the last G8 Summit, while respecting the critical role of African ownership of the reform process.
Progress made
Peace and Stability: We have increased our support for African efforts to build a peaceful and stable Africa, including support for setting up the African Standby Force and technical, logistical and financial assistance on policy development to strengthen the overall capacity of African organisations to deal with conflicts on the continent. We have provided funding, hardware, personnel and technical assistance to the African Union (AU) mission in Darfur, and stand ready to support a UN force to take over from the AU there. We assisted in the development of several international training centres in Africa as well as other parts of the world. We take note of the report by the G8 and other donor partner officials on strengthening African peace-keeping capacity to the G8 Foreign Ministers, including the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Stability Police Units (COESPU) in Vicenza. We are on track to deliver our Sea Island commitment to train 75,000 peacekeeping troops worldwide by 2010, with a sustained focus on Africa.
At Gleneagles, we noted the importance of peace as a condition for development and agreed to help Africa's fragile states to emerge successfully from crisis and conflict. Progress in Africa has been significant in this regard. We have taken steps to help countries emerging from conflict and strongly supported the successful establishment in December of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. We have facilitated a faster and better response to humanitarian crises caused by conflict through the launch in March of the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund with pledges of $264 million from some G8 and other donors; $92 million has already been disbursed to emergencies in the Horn of Africa, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Niger, Cote D'Ivoire and Burundi. Donors' efforts over the past year, in partnership with local leaders and the international community, have helped avert famines in East and Southern Africa, where more than 26 million people had been at risk.
Promoting Good and Responsive Governance: We have, with our international partners, secured the entry into force of the UN Convention against Corruption in December 2005: 22 African and 3 G8 countries are among those who have ratified. 25 African countries have signed up to the African Peer Review Mechanism and 3 have completed the process. Good progress has been made in improving transparency and accountability including in the oil and gas industries through the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), in which 15 African countries and 23 companies take part. We have successfully completed work at the OECD to strengthen significantly anti-bribery requirements for those applying for export credits and credit guarantees.
Investing in People: Building on the commitments we made at Gleneagles last year, the G8 and other international partners agreed a Political Declaration at the UN High-Level meeting on HIV/AIDS in June which commits to pursue all necessary efforts to scale up towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010; and to take measures to ensure that additional resources are made available to tackle AIDS, in view of the UNAIDS estimate that $20-23 billion is needed annually by 2010. The Global Fund is an important instrument in the battle against HIV/AIDS. We will work with other donors and stakeholders in the effort to secure a funding needed for the 2006-2007 replenishment period and call upon all concerned to participate actively in the development of a four-year strategy, aimed at building a solid foundation for the activities of the Fund in the years ahead. We are working to deliver the Global Plan to Stop TB, launched in January 2006, and the Global Strategic Plan to Roll Back Malaria, launched in November 2005. We have committed $210 million to fund Polio Eradication in 2006. If the remaining funding gap can be filled, transmission of polio should end in Africa.
We are working with our African partners on their commitment to provide free primary education for all African children by 2015. We support an effective implementation of the EFA Fast Track Initiative, as detailed in our Summit paper on Education. We welcome the Plan of Action for Science and Technology agreed by African ministers in September 2005, to help ensure skilled professionals for Africa's private and public sectors.
In the water sector, we are supporting strengthened cooperation among African river basin organisations, and giving support to the African Ministers' Council on Water, as well as the leading role of the African Development Bank in this key sector. We are contributing to efforts to improve the effectiveness of aid to Africa's water sector.
Promoting Growth: We have sustained our efforts to help Africa trade its way to sustainable prosperity. We agreed at the WTO Ministerial in December 2005 to eliminate all forms of export subsidies on cotton in 2006, to end all forms of agricultural export subsidies and to discipline all export measures with equivalent effect by end 2013, to deliver duty and quota free access for at least 97% of products from Least Developed Countries, subject to successful conclusion of the Doha Round; and to provide support for developing countries' efforts to build trade capacity. We reaffirm that provisions for special and differential treatment are an integral part of WTO agreements.
We are helping Africa construct the road, rail, energy and other networks necessary for growth including through our support to the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa inaugurated in October 2005, which has already identified and secured funding decisions on eleven regional projects from NEPAD's Short Term Action Plan (STAP) worth $740m. We are helping Africa attract the private financing and inward investment which will drive growth including through the NEPAD-OECD Africa Investment Initiative, the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa and the Investment Climate Facility, launched at the World Economic Summit in June. We continue to provide significant support to the development of agriculture in Africa. Increasingly, the AU/NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is providing a framework for collective action.
Financing for Development: We are working hard to deliver on our substantial aid commitments which, with those of other donors, will lead to an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Africa of $25bn a year by 2010, out of an OECD estimated $50bn worldwide aid. The OECD estimates that ODA from Development Assistance Committee members rose 31% to US$107 billion in 2005, 75% of which was from G8 members. Recognising that private resources dwarf public flows and can have a considerable positive impact on development, we are taking steps to help African countries to mobilize the full range of development finance, as agreed in the Monterrey Consensus.
We have made good progress in lifting the debt burden from the poorest countries. The IMF and IDA have implemented the G8 proposal to cancel 100% of the debts owed by eligible Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and the African Development Fund is expected to implement it soon. 15 African countries have already benefited from debt stock cancellation at the IMF and IDA. Up to 24 more countries will also qualify for MDRI when they complete the HIPC process. A deal resolving 100% of Nigeria's $30 billion in debts to Paris Club creditors has also been agreed and delivered.
We are working on the implementation of the March 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness to ensure delivery of effective and efficient aid resources to Africa and other developing countries and have started to conduct a survey on monitoring the implementation of the Paris Declaration.
Mutual ownership and accountability: We believe in mutual ownership and accountability. African governments have made important commitments including on peace and security, good governance and transparency, which also have to be implemented. We will continue to ensure that progress is monitored, and that donors and African states sustain a high level dialogue on these issues, through the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) with the APF Support Unit producing its first progress report in October 2006.
Continuing work
We have made substantial progress since Gleneagles. Our key steps over the next year include:
- tackling infectious diseases, strengthening education and enhancing energy security in Africa and the wider world. The details are set out in our separate statements;
- continuing, in cooperation with the EU, UN and other partners, to assist the AU and African sub-regional organisations in further developing the African Standby Force including transportation and logistics support arrangements;
- tackling the undesirable illicit proliferation of conventional arms including by strengthening existing mechanisms;
- working towards ratifying the UN Convention Against Corruption as soon as possible, with successful discussions on monitoring and implementation mechanisms at the Conference of State Parties later this year ;
- continuing to support the African Peer Review Mechanism whilst respecting African ownership;
- encouraging wider implementation of the EITI and other resource transparency programmes in resource-rich African countries;
- urgently stepping up our efforts to achieve an ambitious and balanced outcome for the WTO Doha Round that gives developing countries - especially Least Developed Countries - improved access to global markets, builds trade capacity and allows developing countries to decide, plan and sequence their own economic policies;
- supporting agriculture development, in particular under the AU/NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP);
- further work on Aid for Trade to help ensure that African countries are better able to participate in and benefit from the multilateral trading system;
- fulfilling our aid promises and continuing to track progress through the APF in particular;
- ensuring the full implementation and financing of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) according to our commitments made at Gleneagles and on a fair burden-share basis, and preserving long-term debt sustainability through the implementation of the IMF/World Bank debt sustainability framework for low-income countries; and
- implementing our Paris Agenda on aid effectiveness and monitoring progress.
We will review progress, and identify the next steps to support Africa's successful development, at the 2007 G8 Summit in Germany. Our goal remains a democratic, prosperous and peaceful Africa. We will continue to give our full support to African efforts to secure this.
Annex
Canada
Canada will contribute C$450 million between 2006-2016 to support country-led efforts to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes in Africa.
Canada is ready to contribute C$100 million to support an Advance Market Commitments pilot project to develop a vaccine for pneumococcal disease.
Canada will contribute C$250 million in 2006 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) to support 2006-07 activities. Canada has committed C$800 million to support efforts to fight HIV/AIDS since 2000. Other recent Canadian initiatives include C$160 million for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), C$62 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and C$5 million to the African AIDS Vaccine Programme. Canada has also committed C$15 million to the International Partnership for Microbicides.
Canada will contribute C$57 million to support the international response to avian influenza, and to prepare for potential future pandemics.
In 2006, Canada will contribute C$45 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
European Commission
Since the Creation of the Global Fund in 2001 the EC will have contributed €522 million by the end of 2006, with €90 million allocated in 2006 alone.
In 2002-2006, the EC will have spent €420 million on research targeted at the three main communicable diseases - HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis a four-fold increase in comparison to the previous four-year period.
The European Commission pledged €100 million at the Beijing Conference in January 2006 to confront avian influenza and prepare for a possible human pandemic, with additional €111 million pledged by the EU Member States. €20 million of European Commission's pledge is targeted to support of scientific research projects, with a further €80 million devoted to assistance projects.
As regards polio eradication, the European Commission has provided €61 million to finance supplementary immunization activities in countries with endemic transmission - Nigeria, Niger and Somalia. In Nigeria this support was provided on top of already existing support of €118 million for immunization and polio eradication. Additional funding of €15 million to support eradication activities needed in Ethiopia.
France
France will spend €1,4 billion for the period 2006-2008 for multilateral actions related to the fight against emerging and transmissible diseases.
Regarding innovative financing, France has launched an air ticket solidarity contribution, which so far 17 countries expressed their intention to endorse. At least 90 percent of the proceeds of this contribution (estimated to around 200 million a year), which is effective from 1 July, will finance an international drug purchase facility-UNITAID, aimed at ensuring an uninterrupted supply of pre-qualified products at reduced price for beneficiary countries. The IDPF-UNITAID will be launched at the time of the UN General Assembly in mid-September. France also contributes to the pilot International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm), with the first bond issuance expected to take place in 2006 in order to finance GAVI. With a commitment of $2 billion over 20 years, France will be the second contributor to this initiative.
France will make an increased contribution to the Global Fund (€225 million in 2006 and €300 million in 2007) and will therefore be its second contributor.
For the period 2006-2007, France will spend €290 million through its bilateral ODA for the achievement of health-related MDGs and for the strengthening of health systems in developing countries.
Germany
Germany is actively engaged in prevention and control of infectious diseases in developing countries.
The German government annually spends €300 million on prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and health system development. Germany ranks fifth in the international bilateral donor community on combating polio and has committed €39 million of new bilateral funds.
For efforts to fight Avian Influenza, Germany has committed approximately €40 million for bilateral programs in Asia and Africa, for vaccine development and for support for a global crises-reaction-mechanism.
With €800 million is the largest donor for bilateral water projects which is a very important pillar in fighting infectious diseases.
Germany is also promoting research into treatments that are of special interest to developing countries.
Italy
Italy has put forward a market-based mechanism to foster research and development of new vaccines against infectious diseases that mostly hit poor countries: Advance Market Commitment (AMC). Together with GAVI and the World Bank, a pilot project has been developed that can be launched in 2006.
Italy is also actively participating in the financing of several multilateral/ bilateral initiatives fighting Malaria, Polio, Tuberculosis, Avian flu and other infectious diseases.
Italy will provide 600million USD to the IFFim over 20 years and contribute 460 million euros to Global Fund in the period 2004-2007.
These specific contributions are made following a more general approach of substantial support for the strengthening of national health systems and of monitoring and prevention capabilities in developing countries.
Japan
Japan launched the 'Health and Development' Initiative in June 2005 aiming to provide up to US$5 billion over five years from 2005 to 2009 to combat infectious diseases and other threats to health in the developing countries, out of which more than US$620 million has been disbursed during the fiscal year 2005.
In June 2005, Japan pledged to contribute US$500 million to the Global Fund in the coming years, and contributed US$130 million to the Fund in March 2006 as the first step to fulfill this commitment.
To combat avian and human pandemic influenza, Japan pledged US$155 million on the occasion of the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza held in January 2006 in Beijing, and has disbursed the full amount.
Russia
Russia and the World Bank agreed to collaborate in developing a debt-for-development swap for channelling $250 million freed-up from debt service to high priority development actions in Sub-Saharan Africa. In some of these HIPC eligible countries, the World Bank is developing important projects and programs in support of country strategies to fight infectious diseases. Russia will join forces with the World Bank in the fight against malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa, and will support the World Bank-led malaria booster program that aims to achieve tangible results by 2010. Besides that Russia and the World Bank agreed to expand their cooperation in Central Asia to meet the challenge of infectious diseases.
In 2005, Russia has doubled up to $40 millions its pledge to the Global Fund. Russia also intends to reimburse to the Global Fund untill 2010 nearly US$270 million, which would be distributed to fund projects in Russian Federation.
Russia has committed to contribute US$18 millions to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Russia has pledged near $45 million for efforts to prepare for, detect, and rapidly respond to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Russia welcomes progress made on Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) on vaccines and looks forward to a successful launch of the AMC pilot project.
United Kingdom
The UK is committed to the achievement of the objectives set at Gleneagles, including universal access to drugs against HIV/AIDS by 2010. The UK is committed to spend £1.5 billion on HIV/AIDS from 2005/06 to 2007/08 and will contribute £360 million to the Global Fund between 2002 and 2008. The UK also supports innovative financing mechanisms: it will provide £1.4 billion over 20 years to the IFFIm to tackle preventable diseases, and has announced that it is prepared to make a long-term financial contribution to the IDPF-UNITAID. The UK is prepared to make a long-term financial contribution to pilot AMC. It supports the launch of a Pneumococcus AMC by the end of 2006 and believes that a Malaria AMC should be explored. The UK also funds seven product development public private partnerships, which carry out research into new drugs, vaccines and microbicides for tackling communicable diseases. The UK is providing £60 million between 2006 and 2008 towards the cost of eradicating polio.
United States
The United States will provide $15 billion over 5 years to support international HIV/AIDS programs; will contribute $90 million in fiscal year 2006 to bilateral tuberculosis programs in over 35 countries; will increase funding for malaria prevention and treatment by more than $1.2 billion over 5 years; has provided nearly 25 percent of Global Polio Eradication Initiative funding; has pledged $362 million for countries to prepare for, detect, and rapidly respond to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza; has contributed over $1.5 billion over the past 5 years to save the lives of children under age 5 for support for childhood vaccinations and treatment for pneumonia and diarrhea; has awarded nearly $1 billion in grants to U.S.-based research institutions that collaborate directly with counterparts in developing countries to investigate, develop, and test novel approaches to prevention, control, and treatment of infectious diseases. The United States takes note of the technical work by the World Bank and GAVI on AMCs for vaccines, and supports additional work towards a successful launch of an AMC pilot project by the end of the year.