The leading politicians from the world's seven wealthiest nations and Russia have failed to come up with radical measures to fight poverty in the developing world. The proposals adopted at the Group of Eight (G8) summit amount to little more than a Band-Aid on the world's most festering sore. After a series of summits spanning 12 years in Toronto, London, Naples, Lyons, Cologne and Okinawa, the abolition of developing world debt seems as remote as ever.
As the G8 issued a statement in Japan offering to help the poorest nations access the Internet, a set of totally different priorities was being highlighted half a world away. From its headquarters in Rome, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) published a report which showed that attempts to stem malnutrition in developing countries was falling behind schedule. The target of reducing the number of malnourished in the world to 400 million by 2015 would not be met.
That the G8 leaders should under these circumstances appear to give preference to Internet access has enraged a large number of interest groups ranging from relief agencies to the Secretary General of the United Nations Mr Kofi Annan.
The cost of the lavish Japanese summit meeting angered the growing number of people who support the cancellation of developing world debt. The organisers spent $750 million on facilities, entertainment and food. Eight destroyers and 22,000 soldiers ensured the safety of eight men. The Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, was boarded at sea lest it cause an embarrassment. At one stage, a thousand artists and musicians performed for leaders on a stage that floated on the Okinawa shoreline. According to Oxfam, the money spent would have been enough to put 12 million children through school for a year.
For its part, G8 blamed debtor countries themselves for failing to meet the conditions set out for debt reductions. In the case of developing world countries involved in violent conflicts, these rules have some justification. Other stringent conditions are less warranted and carry echoes of the Victorian concept that aid should be made available only to that group known as "the deserving poor." The debt relief programme has been designed, not to allow countries deal with near-starvation conditions among their populations, but merely to make states solvent enough to start paying back the remainder of their debt. The G8 has set a target that 25 countries would enter the process of debt relief by the end of this year. Only nine have so far qualified.
Efforts to liberalise trade in order to give developing countries better access to the rich markets of the West met with resistance at Okinawa from President Clinton. In an election year, he needs the support of unions and other interest groups if he is to get his vice-president, Mr Al Gore, into the White House. A proposal from Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Jean Chretien, to increase development aid from rich countries also failed to gain support from the United States. While a $300 million programme for school meals in Africa and Asia, announced by Mr Clinton, will undoubtedly help ease malnutrition and encourage parents to send children to school, a great deal more requires to be done.