{ "id": "RL32796", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL32796", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 306519, "date": "2005-07-20", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:37:51.160029", "title": "Africa, the G8, and the Blair Initiative", "summary": "Prior to the July 2005 G8 summit, Britain\u2019s Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a major\ndiplomatic\neffort to marshal the resources he sees as needed to eradicate extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. \nAs summit chair, he focused the meeting, held at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, July 6-8, on this\ninitiative. Blair pushed for a substantial aid increase for Africa beginning in 2006, through an\n\u201cInternational Finance Facility\u201d (IFF), and for 100% forgiveness of poor country debt\nto the\ninternational financial institutions. The IFF would have issued bonds to finance an additional $25\nbillion in annual aid to Africa for three to five years, followed by another $25 billion boost if African\ngovernments improved their managerial and administrative capabilities. IFF bonds would have been\nbacked by a promise from the G7 leading economic powers to repay them after 2015. Poor country\ndebts to the World Bank and the African Development Bank would have been repaid by the G7,\nwhile debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would have been paid by revaluing or selling\nIMF gold. Finally, Blair sought the removal of barriers to Africa\u2019s exports. \n \n Blair has long championed a \u201cMarshall Plan\u201d for Africa as part of a\n\u201cdeal\u201d to help the region\nachieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), U.N.-endorsed targets for 2015 that include\nuniversal primary education and sharp cuts in poverty. In exchange, he expects further governance\nand free-market economic reforms in Africa. On March 11, 2005 a high-level Commission for\nAfrica appointed by Blair issued a comprehensive report elaborating the initiative, which won\nsupport from President Chirac of France and Germany\u2019s Chancellor Schroeder. \n \n The Bush Administration reacted cooly to the proposed IFF on grounds that it lacks a means\nof assuring that new aid funds would be well spent. Officials also argued that the IFF would\nunconstitutionally bind future Congresses to appropriations. IFF supporters noted that the funds\nwould be passed through existing aid agencies with their own monitoring mechanisms. Some also\nargued that the United States routinely agrees to repay debt in the future. At Gleneagles, the IFF\nproposal was dropped, but the participants agreed on a $25 billion increase in annual aid to Africa\nby 2010. Moreover, the G8 ratified an agreement on debt forgiveness for 18 of the world\u2019s\npoorest\ncountries, including 14 in Africa. The donors are to compensate the World Bank and the African\nDevelopment Bank for the lost repayments. The IMF will fund the loss from its own resources, but\nnot sell gold. Participants reiterated that they supported the removal of trade barriers, but no specific\nactions were taken. Many development experts welcomed the summit\u2019s results as an\nimportant step\nforward; but several non-governmental organizations argued that the summit had done too little on\ntrade or to mobilize \u201cnew money.\u201d \n \n Previous G8 meetings have also focused on Africa. There has been much debate over whether\nG8 countries have fulfilled past promises -- and over whether the African states have met their own\npromises of reforms. This report will not be updated. For further information see CRS Report RL32489(pdf) , Africa: Development Issues and Policy Options , and CRS Issue Brief IB95052,\n Africa:\nU.S. Foreign Assistance Issues .", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32796", "sha1": "a089026d4a629d2551917ccd707bd8cd6c1a9793", "filename": "files/20050720_RL32796_a089026d4a629d2551917ccd707bd8cd6c1a9793.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32796", "sha1": "9766f66643c6adc8f3f9987f0b204bdcedcc35e9", "filename": "files/20050720_RL32796_9766f66643c6adc8f3f9987f0b204bdcedcc35e9.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs7590/", "id": "RL32796 2005-06-14", "date": "2005-06-14", "retrieved": "2005-11-02T14:34:27", "title": "Africa, the G8, and the Blair Initiative", "summary": "Britain's Prime Minister Blair assumed the rotating presidency of the G8 group of nations (see text box) in January 2005, and he intends to use the July 2005 G8 summit, which he will chair, to push his Africa development initiative. Climate change will be the second focus of the G8 meeting, being called the \"Gleneagles summit.\" The purpose of this report is to provide background on Africa, the G8, and the Gleneagles meeting. It outlines the British proposals and the U.S. reaction to them to date. In addition, it briefly reviews the problems that have inhibited African development and the response to those problems at previous G8 meetings. For additional information, see CRS Report RL32489, Africa: Development Issues and Policy Options, and CRS Issue Brief IB95052, Africa: U.S. Foreign Assistance Issues.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20050614_RL32796_75a0e22309ac980e1fddd8cb4e2397277ba2baf3.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20050614_RL32796_75a0e22309ac980e1fddd8cb4e2397277ba2baf3.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign aid", "name": "Foreign aid" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Economic assistance in Africa", "name": "Economic assistance in Africa" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806242/", "id": "RL32796_2005Mar17", "date": "2005-03-17", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Africa, the G8, and the Blair Initiative", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20050317_RL32796_d5402c6ee2fa0a3fad2d97651a936f9d20f7c353.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20050317_RL32796_d5402c6ee2fa0a3fad2d97651a936f9d20f7c353.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Appropriations", "Constitutional Questions", "Foreign Affairs" ] }