by Paul Skippen and Geoff Wallace
G8 Research Group
George W. Bush's long-anticipated Middle East peace plan received a mixed reception from G8 Leaders, with all leaders eventually distancing themselves from Bush's call for Arafat to step down. G8 leaders remained noticeably silent on Israel's current occupation of Hebron.
The plan that Bush released, the day before the G8 Summit, contains many strict conditions that Palestinians must comply with before the US will sponsor peace. This included a call for new leadership untainted by terrorism, a new constitution, elections before the end of the year and a functional judiciary system.
He also called on Israel to stop all developments in the West Bank, to retreat to their UN-recognized border position and eventually recognize a Palestinian State, with borders and the issue of Jerusalem to be settled afterwards.
The plan received initial praise from both Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization who representatives pulled out positive aspects of the plan that fit with their position. However world critiques have largely been critical of the plan's lack of timeline, for abandoning the idea of a summer or fall peace summit, and for the US implied position that Arafat must go.
At the first day of the G8 Summit all leaders attempted to distance themselves from the US position on Arafat, stressing that Palestinians have the right to elect their own leaders. Earlier in the day, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien indicated that he did not have a position on the issue, but indicated that Arafat's removal might be good. He came out later in the day to clarify that his position was closer to the European position that the Palestinians have the right to elect their own leader without outside interference.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair attempted to bridge the gap between the US and British position, stating that ``there has been an attitude toward terrorism'' under Arafat.
Arafat's advisors pointed out the hypocrisy of the US position which claims to support democracy but insists that they would not support him if he was re-elected - as widely expected based on current Palestinian polls.
G8 Leaders did agree, however, that the Palestinian government should undergo significant reforms.
Source: AFX, Associated Press, Canadian Press, Globe and Mail and Reuters
In recognition of Russia's improving economy and their cooperation in the US war against terror, Russia received full G8-member status and will receive $20 billion (US) to help in their disarmament efforts.
Russia, now attending its 10th Summit, won the right to host the G8 Summit in 2006.
A G8 statement said, "The world is changing. Russia has demonstrated its potential to play a full and meaningful role in addressing the global problems that we all face." And that, "This decision reflects the remarkable economic and democratic transformation that has occurred in Russia in recent years, and in particular under the leadership of President Putin."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the G7, a grouping that excluded Russia and focused on economic issues, would cease to exist after Britain hosts the summit in 2005.
Putin may have achieved this honour through his backing of the U.S.-led war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks and his lack of objections to the dispatch of U.S. troops to ex-Soviet states. He also signed an arms control pact with Bush on terms generally sought by Washington and dropped, reluctantly, objections to further NATO expansion.
The US has also been very concerned about Russian nuclear arms falling into terrorist hands, especially given the recent dirty-bomb threats, and thus lead the drive to dedicate $20 billion (US) to aid in Russia's disarmament. The plan to eliminate these stockpiles of weapons will cost the United States $10 billion and the other G-8 countries (excluding Russia) an additional $10 billion over the next 10 years.
Source: AFX, Associated Press, Calgary Herald, Canadian Press and Reuters
On the first day of the G8 Leaders Summit, WorldCom, the second-largest US long-distance carrier admitted that it booked expenses improperly to boost profits $3.8 billion over the last five quarters. The result of this restatement will erase all of WorldCom's profits from the beginning of 2001.
President George W. Bush spoke out on the matter at the summit, stating that investigations will be immediate and punishment harsh. He also stated that the economy was undervalued due to three key reasons, lower corporate profit margins, the threat of terrorism and questions about corporate governance thanks to scandals like Enron and now WorldCom. He promised that his administration would take action stating these scandals not only impacted shareholders, but the companies' employees as well.
At the end of the first day, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Summit host summarized the leader's discussion, "It's a preoccupation of all the leaders. This is creating at this time lack of confidence in the market and people are not sure about the way the information is transmitted to the public. They are very concerned."
He went on to say that "Everybody agrees that we have to work on it collectively because it's not only a problem in the United States but it's a problem that affects the economy of all the western world and probably of all the countries in the world."
Although the market initially dived based on WorldCom's news, they largely recovered by end of day, thanks in large part to President Bush's statements.
As a whole, however, G8 Leaders agreed that the world economy is gaining strength and will become even stronger in the upcoming year, although they noted that Japan remains a concern and more needs to be done to help poor nations.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday that he was optimistic about the world's economic future, stating that he expected a pickup in global growth later this year.
"I do not have a pessimistic vision of the future. Indeed, I think that in the second part of this year we will see the growth process that many indicators are already pointing to," he told reporters.
France's President, Jacque Chirac told his G8 partners that France's economic prospects are good but that taxes need to be cut to spur growth. "He said that the growth outlook for 2003 is good but that there is nevertheless a need to set the country on a path to durable growth and employment," said Chirac's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.
The future of poorer countries' economic well-being remained a concern for many of the G8 Leaders, however. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, observing the summit as the European Union representative, asked the leaders to express confidence in the economic policies of Brazil in their joint G8 statement, which they did at end of day.
They also asked the IMF to negotiate with Argentina to ensure that their economic problems do not become a contagion to other economies.
Sources: AFX-Asia, Associated Press, CBC Newsworld, Canadian Press, National Post, and Reuters
- The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) umbrella aid group for 14 British aid agencies echoed the calls to increase funds to Africa. If action is not taken, they are worried a famine similar to the one experienced in the early 1980's in Somalia and Ethiopia will occur.
- En route to the G8 Summit, Kofi Annan warned that any African plan would need to address the chronic civil wars plaguing the areas with possible peacekeeping troops.
- While Japan indicated that it could not provide further development funds to Africa, given the current state of its economy, it made commitments to provide its development experience in Asia in setting up democratic countries with governance.
- Citing the challenges and expense of managing security at G8 Summits, France - next year's Summit host - mused that it might consider a simple conference call between leaders instead.
- The G8 Digital Opportunities Task Force on Tuesday released a report outlining how governments, businesses and non-government organizations can work together to advance human development and reduce poverty through the use of information and communications technologies.
- Despite widespread concerns of protester violence - similar to what happened in the WTO meeting in Seattle and last years G8 Summit in Genoa - this year's protesters have been largely peaceful so far on the first day of the summit.
 
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