Statement on the Group of 8 Meeting in Kananaskis, Canada, 26-27 June 2002

President Thabo Mbeki, will participate in the G8 Summit meeting in Kananaskis, Canada, from 26 to 27 June 2002. President Mbeki will be joined by other African leaders invited to the meeting by the Prime Minister of Canada, namely, President Mubarak of Egypt, President Wade of Senegal, President Bouteflika of Algeria and President Obasanjo of Nigeria. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Anan will also participate in the Summit meeting.

The G8 will discuss, on the 27th of June, the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

At the 2001 Summit in Genoa, the G8 agreed to set up a Task Force charged with drawing up a plan of action on Africa and the NEPAD for consideration at the 2002 Summit. At this year's Summit the African Presidents will seek support for the NEPAD and assistance in terms of market access, investment and development funding.

The Summit will also discuss strengthening global economic growth and fighting terrorism.

In addition, leaders will review progress since their last meeting in four areas related to global poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals as stated in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These include the promotion of universal primary education, fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, bridging the digital divide, and debt reduction and the HIPC initiative.

The President's delegation will include the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Rev Frank Chikane, Director-General in the Presidency and Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu, economic advisor to the President.

For more information contact Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853.
Issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
20 June 2002

BACKGROUND

The G8 is an informal group of eight countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The European Union also participates and is represented by the President of the European Commission and by the leader of the country that holds the Presidency of the European Council at the time of the G8 Summit. In this regard, the Prime Minister of Spain will participate at the Kananaskis meeting.

Before Russia joined in 1997, the G7 (seven largest industrial economies in the world) met annually to discuss global economic issues. Since then the agenda has become more broad-based to include political and social issues. The G7 Finance Ministers and the G8 Foreign Ministers still meet separately in the weeks immediately prior to the Summit.

The Chair of the G8 rotates on a calendar-year basis among the seven original members in the following order: France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. Although Russia and the European Union participate in discussions, they are not part of this rotation.

The country holding the Chair - currently Canada - is responsible for hosting and organising the Summit. The Chair also bears the responsibility of speaking on behalf of the G8 and of engaging non-G8 countries, non-governmental organisations, and international organisations in the Summit.

The host country usually organises several meeting in advance of the Summit, where personal representatives of the leaders, known as Sherpas come together to discuss potential agenda issues. Their discussions help the leaders focus attention on key subjects. After the Summit, they also oversee the implementation of the commitments made at the Summit.

This year, in addition to the Sherpa process, the steering committee of the NEPAD has been closely involved in the preparations for the segment on Africa. Each G8 member has designated a special African Personal Representative to engage with the NEPAD steering committee to develop a G8 action plan in response to the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

Further information on the G8 Summit is available on the internet at http://www.g8.gc.ca/menu-e.asp