“Bring African countries to G20 table,” says anti poverty group

Pittsburgh – The Pittsburgh G20 Summit appears to have made some progress towards reshaping global power structures to make them more representative, said anti poverty campaign group ONE.

But the G20 still has some way to go before it becomes a truly representative global decision making body.

Commenting on the G20 replacing the G8 as the central format to deliberate global economic issues, ONE’s Government Relations Director Tom Hart said:                        “Moving from the G8 to the G20 is a seismic shift: it brings many more of the world’s people to the table, but the new expanded world body must now start addressing the needs of the poorest countries, especially in Africa. “For nearly a decade now, Africa has been squarely on the G8’s agenda, even if delivery on their commitments has been mixed. During this transition time, African development must not fall through the cracks. One way to show the world will not forget Africa would be to hold an upcoming G20 summit on the African continent.” ONE staff handed over a petition today to the US delegation to the Pittsburgh Summit in which 75,000 ONE members worldwide call for a G20 Summit to be held in Africa. The members were responding to an email from African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka in which he says:
“Bringing the G20 to Africa would make it impossible to ignore the role Africa must play in any successful global economic recovery… Africa is part of the solution.” Key issues for Africa · Agriculture  – The G20 called on the World Bank to develop a new trust fund, as a way to implement the G8’s food security initiative announced at the L’Aquila Summit in Italy in July. This multilateral fund will support the set of principles championed by the White House to make aid for agriculture more effective, coordinated and geared towards the strategies developed by poor countries themselves.

Climate change – The G20 failed to call for resources to help the poorest countries adapt to the harmful impacts of climate change, and tackle its causes. It was disappointing that there was no mention of the urgency of addressing these needs.

African Development Bank – The G20 have reaffirmed the commitment to make sure the multilateral development banks have enough finance, especially the World soft loan arm, the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The African bank has increased its lending to respond to the financial crisis by as much as US$4bn and now needs support to replenish its coffers. ONE welcomes Canada’s announcement of an extra US$2.8bn in loan guarantees for the Bank.

World Bank and IMF– Both International Financial Institutions took steps towards increasing representation of developing countries.