Secretary-General Writes to G8 Leaders

The Secretary-General sent the following letter to G8 leaders:

I write to you on behalf of the 53 sovereign member states of the Commonwealth. We are an organisation of both member governments and civil society. We are bound by our commitment to democracy, development and fundamental human rights. Our members are present in all continents and oceans of the world. We include some of the smallest and poorest to some of the largest and most wealthy economies.

Let me confine my remarks to five points on which I hope your G8 deliberations can also concentrate. My point of departure is that your forthcoming Summit offers a timely opportunity to build on the considerable momentum achieved in the global development agenda at Gleneagles last year.

Governance

We welcome the political and financial support of G8 members to improve the quality of arrangements by which people are governed and govern themselves. The Commonwealth is convinced that development and democracy are inextricably bound together, and that the health of a democracy can be measured by its separation of powers, its transparency and openness, and its access to decision-making at all levels by individual citizens.

13 of the 18 African members of the Commonwealth have agreed to participate in the African Peer Review Mechanism - a clear illustration of our own commitment to strengthen and improve people-centred governance. It is important that developed countries all over the world deliver on their part of the compact that underlies the Monterrey Consensus and the Millennium Development Goals.

The Commonwealth is committed to implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption, and is already engaged on work to address issues of tracing, recovering and repatriating illicitly obtained assets. We urge the G8 to work towards global action in this area.

The Doha Round

Commonwealth countries collectively account for 20% of global trade. Our 53 leaders have called in their Valletta Statement on Multilateral Trade on all developed countries to demonstrate the political will to give more than they receive in this Round, particularly in the negotiations on agriculture and market access. The future prosperity of G8 members themselves requires such an approach. We urge you to seize this moment of history by making national concessions that will allow the Doha Round not only to be brought to a conclusion, but to a conclusion which honours the ambitions, aspirations and expectations of the world community.

At the core of the Doha Round is the imperative of delivering development. We renew our congratulations to the G8 for the 'Aid for Trade' initiative endorsed at Gleneagles and also renew our call for adequately funded and structured assistance to developing countries to give substance to this initiative. We highlight the importance to the credibility and substance of the Doha Round of appropriate Special and Differential Treatment for developing countries and small states in particular.

Aid

Progress on implementing the aid commitments made at Gleneagles has been disappointing. The plan to increase aid volumes by $50 billion per year by 2010 is not being implemented in timely fashion or with the necessary predictability. The focus to date on implementing the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness has been more on improving the efficiency of aid and agency processes, and less on the substance of aid effectiveness such as gender equality and harmonisation of development co-operation with trade policies.

More political will as well as resources are required of the G8 to honour commitments already made. Otherwise, there can be little optimism that all countries will achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs most concerned with gender equality and the rights of women in particular are worryingly off track.

Debt Cancellation

We welcome the considerable progress made to implement the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). It is encouraging that the IMF has delivered 100% debt cancellation for 19 countries and that the World Bank and African Development Bank have decided to implement the MDRI. However, the implementation of the MDRI should not lead to a diversion of aid. We hope that the G8 will consider whether debt relief should be provided to other heavily indebted poor countries that are not currently eligible for HIPC status.

UN Reform

The United Nations has been an essential partner for the Commonwealth in peace building, conflict resolution, humanitarian and development assistance, provision of policy advice, and in setting global human rights standards that underpin all sustainable development and democratisation. Our hope is that the UN reform processes will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the UN system in fulfilling its unique global governance function, and we call for clear and united G8 support for that reform.

Finally, mindful that energy security will feature prominently on your agenda, we hope that you will take into account the particular needs of poor countries dependent on imports of natural resources such as oil to meet their energy needs.

The Commonwealth extends to you our active support and solidarity in pursuit of decisions and tangible implementation measures that contribute to the spread of democracy and development on this fragile planet that we all share. I wish you well for a successful Summit.

Don McKinnon

Key Links:

• Secretary-General
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Related News:

• Official G8 Website