The G8 and Africa: Rhetoric or Action?
Poverty reduction is the keystone of the G-8 agenda for 2005. While most of the developing world is experiencing rapid growth, Africa is falling further behind. One in two Africans lives on less than one dollar a day and the scourge of conflict continues unabated while HIV tightens its destructive stranglehold. Without concerted and sustained action by Africans and the international community, ambitious goals for improvements in health, education and nutrition, and ultimately development, will remain unmet, and poverty will tighten its grip.
1) What will it take to transform commitments for change into tangible actions?
2) What role does each sector -- including the private sector -- play in making this happen?
3) What kind of partnership between the G-8 and Africa will help drive this effort to success?
Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Bono, Musician, DATA (Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa), United Kingdom
William J. Clinton, Founder, William Jefferson Clinton Foundation; President of the United States (1993-2001)
William H. Gates III, Co-Founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation, USA
Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa
Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria
Intervention from the floor
William H. Frist, Senator from Tennessee (Republican), USA; Majority Leader, US Senate
Moderated by
Christine Ockrent, Senior Anchor, Journalist and Author, France 3, France
