*EPF119 06/14/2004
Text: G8 Leaders Address Security, Poverty, Health and Development
(Chair's Summary outlines summit's accomplishments) (1340)

Leaders gathered at the G8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, launched numerous initiatives aimed at political reform, poverty reduction, expanding capabilities for peace support operations, and disease eradication, according to the Chair's Summary issued at the conclusion of the meetings June 10.

The meeting, hosted and chaired by the United States, also included the leaders of Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada and Russia. During the two days of talks June 9 and 10, the G8 leaders also met with leaders from selected African and Middle Eastern countries.

The G8 leaders called for the creation of a Forum for the Future to serve as a framework for ongoing discussions between governmental, private sector and civil society leaders from G8 and Middle Eastern and North African countries. According to the summary statement, the G8 countries will work to support regional programs aimed at democracy, education and small business development.

In the area of international security, the leaders adopted a plan to strengthen nonproliferation controls and an initiative to expand security measures for international travel.

The G8 also endorsed a new program aimed at coordinating international efforts to find a vaccine for HIV and reaffirmed its support for the ongoing project to eliminate polio by 2005.

The leaders sought to address the specific challenges facing developing countries in Africa by establishing an international initiative to facilitate peace support operations, launching an initiative aimed at ending famine in the Horn of Africa, and adopting a program to foster entrepreneurship on the continent.

Following is the text of the Chair's Summary:

(begin text)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Sea Island, Georgia)
June 10, 2004

CHAIR'S SUMMARY

We met at Sea Island for our annual Summit to advance freedom by strengthening international cooperation to make the world both safer and better.

Leaders from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Turkey joined us at Sea Island.

We welcomed the unanimous approval of U. N. Security Council Resolution 1546 on Iraq. We stand together united in our support for the Iraqi people and the fully sovereign Iraqi Interim Government as they seek to rebuild their nation.

In our discussion of the Broader Middle East and North Africa, we welcomed statements from the region on the need for reform. As the leaders of the major industrialized democracies in the world, we recognize our special responsibility to support freedom and reform, and therefore we committed to:

-- Forge a historic Partnership for Progress and a Common Future with the governments and peoples of the Broader Middle East and North Africa.

-- Establish together with our partners a Forum for the Future, which will root our efforts in an enduring dialogue in support of the region's reform efforts. The first meeting of the Forum will be held later this year.

-- Adopt a G-8 Plan of Support for Reform, which commits us to intensify and, in partnership with the region, expand our already strong individual and collective engagements, and launch new initiatives to support: democracy, literacy, entrepreneurship/vocational training, microfinance, and small business financing, among other things.

Our support for reform in the region will go hand in hand with our support for a just, comprehensive, and lasting settlement to the Arab -- Israeli conflict. We called upon the Quartet to meet in the region before the end of the month to restore momentum on the Roadmap.

At Evian, we recognized the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, together with international terrorism, as the pre-eminent threat to international peace and security. Determined to prevent, contain, and roll back proliferation, we adopted a G-8 Action Plan on Nonproliferation to reinforce the global nonproliferation regime. This Action Plan enhances and expands ongoing efforts, such as the Proliferation Security Initiative, which now includes all G-8 members, and the G-8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. The Action Plan addresses transfers of enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technologies, and takes steps to strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency and to counter bioterrorism. The Action Plan calls on all states to implement the recently passed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540, and addresses the proliferation challenges in North Korea, Iran, and Libya.

International terrorism poses a direct challenge to global security and prosperity. We agreed to enhance our counterterrorism efforts by launching the Secure and Facilitated International Travel Initiative (SAFTI) to improve the security and efficiency of air, land, and sea travel. We agreed to new measures to destroy excess stockpiles of Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) and to prevent their proliferation.

We welcomed the increasing strength of the global economy. We agreed it was important to take advantage of the strong global economic environment to implement further reforms to accelerate growth in our countries. We noted the recent pledge by oil producers to increase production. We recognized the need for balanced energy policies, which increase energy supplies and encourage more efficient energy use and conservation, including through new technologies.

We recognized that we face a moment of strategic economic opportunity: by combining the upturn in global growth with a worldwide reduction of barriers to trade, we can deepen, broaden, and extend this economic expansion. Therefore, we directed our ministers, and called on all WTO members, to finalize the frameworks by July to put the WTO negotiations back on track so that we can expeditiously complete the Doha Development Agenda. We welcomed recent progress toward Russia's accession to the WTO. We also recognized the need to fight counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property.

The challenges faced by Africa, including armed conflict, HIV/AIDS, famine, and poverty, represent a compelling call for international cooperation to support the continent's efforts to achieve lasting progress. We met with the Presidents of Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda, and we committed to:

-- Launch a G-8 Action Plan on Expanding Global Capability for Peace Support Operations;

-- Adopt a G-8 Action Plan on Applying the Power of Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of Poverty;

-- Endorse and establish a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise to accelerate HIV vaccine development. The United States will host later this year a meeting of all interested stakeholders in the Enterprise;

-- Take all necessary steps to eradicate polio by 2005 and close the funding gap by our next Summit. We have already closed the funding gap for 2004;

-- Launch a new initiative on Ending the Cycle of Famine in the Horn of Africa, Raising Agricultural Productivity, and Promoting Rural Development in Food Insecure Countries; and

-- Reaffirm our commitment to fully implementing and financing the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. We issued a separate statement on HIPC.

Sustainable development requires international cooperation and action on improving our environment. We endorsed the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle ("3 R's") Initiative.

We supported progress in the multilateral effort against corruption and welcomed the completion of Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Compacts with Georgia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Peru. We noted the role information technology can play in promoting transparency.

We also discussed regional challenges, including:

-- Afghanistan: We agreed on the need for international support for upcoming Afghan elections and counternarcotics efforts.

-- Gaza Withdrawal/Middle East Peace: We issued a separate statement on Gaza Withdrawal and the Road Ahead to Middle East Peace.

-- Haiti: We discussed how to meet Haiti's urgent needs for budget support, electricity, and police, and called on all donors to do their utmost to provide support at the July donors' conference and to effect a sustainable future for this country.

-- North Korea: We addressed the DPRK nuclear issue in our G-8 Action Plan on Nonproliferation. We support the Six-Party Talks as well as efforts by all concerned parties to achieve a comprehensive solution by diplomatic means to the DPRK nuclear issue and to other security and humanitarian issues, such as the abductions.

-- Sudan: We issued a separate statement on Sudan.

We welcomed the offer of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to host our next Summit in 2005.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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