The British Presidency G8 summit will take place next week at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. I blogged at the beginning of this year about UK’s G8 Presidency, which revolves around three interconnected priorities: Tax, Trade and Transparency. We believe that addressing these issues is vital for sustainable economic growth worldwide.
On Monday, The Lough Erne Accountability Report was launched online. It is a second comprehensive report tracking progress on the G8 Leaders’ development promises – looking at 61 commitments made over the past 11 years. G8 Leaders in 2009 made a public commitment to monitor their progress on their promises, including their aid effectiveness. We are very grateful to UN Economic Commission for Africa, which is based here in Addis Ababa, for providing thoughtful comments on this report.
Another important recent event was the G8 “Nutrition for Growth” Conference on 8 June. This showcased the fact that despite aid efforts there are still one billion people going hungry and one in four children stunted through chronic malnutrition. Prime Minister David Cameron said in his speech at the conference that the international community must do all it takes to defeat hunger and poverty all over the world. The African Union’s (AU) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture had a central role in this meeting, reflecting the positive relationship between the G8 and the AU on agricultural development in Africa. Ethiopia’s Minister of Health Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu Berhan spoke at the meeting and committed Ethiopia to implement its revised National Nutrition Plan (NNP) and allocate an additional US$ 15 million of domestic financing a year to addressing under-nutrition in the country.
Ethiopia was also represented at a separate event on 8 June which discussed the New Alliance for Food, Security and Nutrition. Khalid Bomba, Head of the Agricultural Transformation Agency, spoke about Ethiopia’s progress in attracting new private sector investment in agriculture.
The G8 works in partnership with Africa to advance trade, ensure tax compliance and promote greater transparency. The AU has a strong vision to tackle such challenges, which are hampering the continent’s development. We expect the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn, AU Commissioner Dr Nksozana Dlamina-Zuma and the Senegalese President Macky Sall to attend the traditional Summit lunch on 18 June.
This Saturday, a high-level “Open for Growth: G8 Trade, Tax and Transparency” event will be held in preparation for the Summit. The event will encourage wider discussion about the 3T’s, with business, civil society and governments.
I would encourage everyone to read the reports I have mentioned above and look forward to your comments about the G8 Summit agenda.