| G8 and G20 Summits in Canada |
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“Under any circumstances we must not balance budgets on the backs of the world’s poorest people,” said Mr. Ban, urging leaders to invest strongly in the three “high-return” areas of agriculture, green recovery and health systems. “Healthy populations, particularly women and children can leverage countries out of poverty,” he said. A joint letter by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Commission President José Manuel Barroso before the G20 Summit stated: “The European Union ... remains determined to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals globally by 2015 and we believe that this is possible if all partners demonstrate firm political commitment, implement necessary policy changes and take concrete actions aimed at increasing ownership by developing countries. We should also aim at improving the impact of policies; mobilising new and innovative sources of financing in order to secure predictable financing for development; and making more effective use of development resources.” Meanwhile South African President Jacob Zuma called on the G20 to create “more effective and equal international partnerships for growth and development” in Africa, and that he wished to convey the message to the G20 that “Africa is open to meaningful partnerships and engagement towards ensuring sustainable development.” A number of G20 countries, such as Canada, Australia and Brazil, also opposed the introduction of a global bank levy. The final communiqué from the G20 stated: “We agreed the financial sector should make a fair and substantial contribution towards paying for any burdens associated with government interventions, where they occur, to repair the financial system or fund resolution, and reduce risks from the financial system. We recognized that there are a range of policy approaches to this end. Some countries are pursuing a financial levy. Other countries are pursuing different approaches.” Sources:  |
The G20 Summit in Canada on 26-27 June was dominated by discussions of how to coordinate national economic strategies in the wake of the financial crisis, and how to reform the international financial architecture. At the earlier G8 Summit in Muskoka on June 25-26 security issues dominated, particularly policy on Iran and North Korea. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to world leaders not to sideline the fundamental issues of poverty and climate change in their talks.
