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L'AQUILA,
Italy, July 11, 2009 – Leaders of the G8 developed nations have pledged
$20bn (£12bn) for efforts to boost food supplies to the hungry, on the
final day of a summit in Italy.
The investment, which is $5bn more than had been expected, will
fund a three-year initiative to help poor nations develop their own
agriculture.
US President Barack Obama said the issue of food security was of
huge importance to all nations in the world.
Richer nations had a moral obligation to help poorer nations, he
said.
Mr Obama added that the G8 nations had agreed to commit $15bn for
the new initiative going into Friday's meeting, but had then promised an
additional $5bn in "hard commitments" during the talks.
"We do not view this assistance as an end in itself," he said.
"We believe that the purpose of aid must be to create the
conditions where it's no longer needed, to help people become
self-sufficient, provide for their families and lift their standards of
living."
Mr Obama, who has relatives in Kenya, said he had drawn on his
family's personal experience in his discussions with other world
leaders.
The US will reportedly contribute some $3.5bn to the programme.
Mr Obama met representatives of Angola, Algeria, Nigeria and
Senegal in L'Aquila, where the summit is being held. He will also meet
Pope Benedict XVI in Rome before embarking on an African tour later on
Friday.
African leaders had earlier urged G8 nations to live up to past
aid pledges.
BBC economics correspondent Andrew Walker says the idea is to put
more emphasis on helping people feed themselves.
That is to be achieved with more investment in the agriculture of
developing countries, and the G8 nations - Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US - will provide significant
resources, our correspondent adds.
Obama insisted Africa can be self-sufficient when it comes to
food
However, although the total amount of overseas development aid (ODA)
was increased in 2008, the rich countries are still behind on their
target to double aid that was made at the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005 -
and Italy is among the laggards. Not all the money pledged to the
agriculture initiative at the summit will be new funding.
Kanaya Nwanze, president of the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, told the BBC that he welcomed the announcement
of more investment in agriculture in the developing world.
"It is time for us to switch because food security is not just
food aid," he said.
"It is the ability of people to produce food locally and for them
to be able to have access to local markets."
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who also attended Friday's
talks, told Reuters news agency beforehand that the key message from
African nations was that the G8 had to live up to its commitments.
Aid organizations have criticized some members for failing to
deliver on the promise made at the 2005 G8 summit to increase annual aid
levels to sub-Saharan Africa by $25bn by 2010.
Italy, the present summit host, has come under particular
pressure for cutting, rather than increasing, aid this year.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said the global economic
crisis and Italy's mounting debts are responsible for a delay in Rome
meeting its promises.
Climate challenge
On Thursday, when the summit focused on climate change, leaders
from both developed and developing nations agreed that global
temperatures should not rise more than 2C above 1900 levels.
That is the level above which, the UN says, the Earth's climate
system would become dangerously unstable.
Mr Obama said the G8 and developing nations had made important
strides in dealing with climate change.
But the G8 failed to persuade the developing countries to accept
targets of cutting emissions by 50% by 2050.
On Wednesday, the G8 agreed its own members would work towards
80% cuts by the same date.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the G8 had not done enough
and should also set 2020 targets for emissions cuts.
BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin says the declaration is a
significant step, with all big countries - rich and poor - agreeing
there is a scientific limit on the amount we can warm the climate.
But there is still a huge way to go, he says, as developing
nations like India will not sign up to any 2050 targets unless rich
nations show more determination and offer more cash.
Source: BBC
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