For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 10, 2004

Day Two G8 Accomplishments
Fact Sheet: Accomplishments at the G-8 Summit: Day Two

"The powerful combination of trade, open markets, and good government is history's proven method to defeat poverty on a large scale... to vastly improve health and education... to build modern infrastructure while safeguarding the environment... and to spread the habits of liberty and enterprise."

President George W. Bush
May 10, 2004
Washington, D.C.

Presidential Action

President Bush led the G-8 Leaders today in endorsing a series of initiatives to address some of the most pressing challenges facing developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. Specifically, the G-8 committed to:

* Launch a G-8 Action Plan on Expanding Global Capability for Peace Support Operations to train 75,000 peacekeepers over 5 years;

* Establish a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise to accelerate HIV vaccine development;

* Launch an initiative to End the Cycle of Famine in the Horn of Africa and help 5 million food insecure people attain food security by 2009;

* Ensure full funding for the final stage of the Polio Eradication Initiative;

* Fully implement the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, work to extend it through 2006.

President Bush led the G-8 in a meeting with African Leaders from Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda. Their discussion focused on the challenges faced by Africa, including promoting private sector-led growth, combating HIV/AIDS and poverty. President Bush is leading global efforts to meet those challenges through his $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, of which South Africa and Uganda are focus countries, and the Millennium Challenge Account, for which Senegal and Ghana recently qualified.

Peacekeeping: The G-8 Leaders endorsed a G-8 Action Plan on Expanding Global Capability for Peace Support Operations, with a particular focus on Africa. The G-8 Leaders committed to:

* Train and equip 75,000 troops by 2010 to increase global capacity to conduct peace support operations with a focus on Africa;

* Create a "clearinghouse" function to exchange information and coordinate G-8 efforts to enhance peace operations training and exercises in Africa;

* Develop a transportation and logistics support arrangement to help provide transportation for deploying peacekeepers and logistics support to sustain units in the field; and

* Establish a Gendarme (Constabulary) Center of Excellence in Italy to increase capabilities and interoperability of gendarme forces for peace support operations and support other existing centers dedicated to that purpose. President Bush has proposed a program that would provide approximately $660 million over the next five years to increase U.S. funding for peace support operations, including those established under this initiative.

HIV/AIDS: President Bush is leading the global fight against HIV/AIDS, and his $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will help millions affected by the disease. President Bush today secured G-8 endorsement of the establishment of a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a virtual consortium to accelerate HIV vaccine development by enhancing coordination, information sharing, and collaboration globally. The Enterprise will develop a strategic plan to:

* Prioritize the scientific challenges to be addressed;

* Coordinate product development efforts; and

* Help align and channel existing resources to the needs at hand.

The United States will host later this year a meeting of Enterprise participants.

President Bush announced today plans to establish a second HIV Vaccine Research and Development Center, in addition to the one at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The United States is already investing $488 million in HIV vaccine development in FY2004, and has requested $533 million in FY2005. President Bush urged his G-8 counterparts and other donors to increase their commitment.

Famine: The United States is the world's leader in food aid, having provided more than $1.4 billion in emergency aid and 56 percent of all contributions to the U.N.'s World Food Program in 2003. President Bush is determined to do more. At Sea Island, the G-8 agreed today to launch a new initiative on Ending the Cycle of Famine in the Horn of Africa to:

* Assist Ethiopia to attain food security for 5 million chronically insecure people by 2009;

* Improve emergency assessment; and

* Raise agricultural productivity.

Polio: The United States is the world's leading supporter of polio eradication efforts, contributing more than $1 billion since the launch of the Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Today, President Bush and the other G-8 Leaders committed to take all necessary steps to eradicate polio by 2005. To that end, the G-8 Leaders announced that they had closed the 2004 funding shortfall for the Polio Eradication Initiative and committed to close the 2005 funding shortfall by their next Summit.

HIPC: The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) has to date provided $31 billion in debt reduction to 27 countries pursuing economic reform programs, 23 of them in Africa. The G-8 Leaders committed to fully implementing the HIPC initiative and to supporting debt sustainability in the poorest countries through debt relief and grant financing. The Leaders asked their Finance Ministers to:

* Work with other donors and the international financial institutions to extend the sunset date of the HIPC initiative until December 31, 2006, and to provide the necessary financing for completion of the initiative, including topping up where appropriate;

* Consider additional measures that can further help the poorest countries address the sustainability of their debt.

The G-8 Leaders asked for a progress report on these efforts by the end of the year.

# # #

Printer-Friendly Version

Email this page to a friend