Blair rates G8 summit as "great success"

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed on Friday the Group of Eight (G8) summit as a " great success" at a press conference which saw a whole briefing room packed with reporters from across the world.

"I believe we have made very substantial progress indeed," he said, referring to the commitment to the doubling of aid not just for Africa, not only the extra 25 billion US dollars, but also the overall aid, which gives an additional 50 billion dollars.

He also named commitments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, T.B. and polio and education in Africa, training of an additional 20,000 peacekeepers for Africa, as well as on trade in terms of ending all export subsidies by a specific date.

Blair commended African countries for their "firm and strong commitment to good governance, to democracy, to human rights, to respect for the rule of law."

"This can never be done on the basis of the old relationship of charity between donor and recipient; it can only be done on the basis of a partnership. In the end, it is only vibrant African leadership capable of giving good governance to its people that can make the ultimate difference, that will root out corruption, that will entrench democracy and human rights, and that will make sure that people respect the rule of law," he added.

On climate change, Blair admitted that the leaders were not able to resolve the disagreement over Kyoto, or to renegotiate a set of targets for countries which have endorsed the Kyoto Protocol.

But he affirmed that if the United States were not part of the dialogue on climate change, there would be no possibility to have India and China as part of the dialogue and succeed in resolving this issue. He deemed the inclusion of countries like China and India in climate change talks as "pathway to new dialogue when Kyoto expires in 2012" and "something to be proud of".

On the Middle East, the leaders decided on a package of 3 billion dollars over the next few years for the Palestinian Authority which will help Palestine and Israel to work in peace together.

In conclusion, the chairman of the G8 summit said "we have made significant progress" despite being overshadowed by the terrorism that occurred in London.

Source: Xinhua