Full Coverage: G8 Summit, Hokkaido, 7-9 July, 2008

Monday, 7 July 2008, 9:24 am
Article: Scoop Full Coverage

Full Coverage: The G8 Leaders Summit, Hokkaido, Japan, 7-9 July, 2008

The G8 Leaders Summit is an annual meeting of the world's major industrialised countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission President is also a full G8 Member, representing the Union at the G8 summit.

10 July 2008 10:15am: G8 Commitment To Global Health Lauded By Agencies - "We strongly welcome this new show of concern by leaders of the world's richest nations for the lives of poor women around the world," said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid of UNFPA. "I have no doubt that this provides millions of women with a new source of optimism." -- United Nations. More >>

10 July 2008 10:06am: G8 - An Exercise In Escapism, No Meaningful Action - "G8 leaders have failed to put on the table any viable proposal and binding commitment to cut carbon emissions, finance adaptation to global warming, or ensure access to low carbon technology for sustained progress in developing countries." -- ActiionAid. More >>

10 July 2008 8:57am: G8 Leaders Statement On Global Food Security - "We are deeply concerned that the steep rise in global food prices coupled with availability problems in a number of developing countries is threatening global food security. The negative impacts of this recent trend could push millions more back into poverty." -- G8 Leaders, G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. More >>

10 July 2008 7:22am: UN Agency Says G8 Leaders 'Missed Opportunity' - "I think the G-8 delivered what it could. But in terms of what the world needs, what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has asked for and what is necessary in view of the Copenhagen meeting in 2009 the results fall short." -- United Nations. More >>

10 July 2008 7:10am: G8 Leaders Praise 'Momentum' As 3-Day Summit Ends - "By protecting our environment, and resisting protectionism, and fighting disease, and promoting development, and improving the daily lives of millions around the world, we've served ... the interests of the world." - President George Bush. More >>

10 July 2008 7:03am: G8 Summit Made A Good Start Tackling Global Crises - "Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the Group of Eight's (G-8) statement on climate change, food security and development as a good start for addressing the three interrelated global crises, while stressing the need for speedier action." -- United Nations. More >>

10 July 2008 12:17am: Letter To G8 On Biofuels & Oil Dependence Solutions - "New oil supplies are getting harder and more expensive to find. Existing supplies are dwindling in many of the world's producing nations. Biofuels are part of a broad solution to the world's dependence on oil. Biofuels must be part of G8 strategy." -- Canadian Renewable Fuels Association. More >>

09 July 2008 10:34pm: G8 Must Not Forget Poor Crippled By Food Crisis - "Oxfam highlights that in fact Africa and other poor countries are being hit hardest by economic woes and G8 action on poverty is needed more than ever. Instead the G8 are trying to water-down previous aid commitments and are failing to tackle biofuels." -- Oxfam UK. More >>

09 July 2008 10:32pm: G8 Using Food Crisis To Push Same Failed Policies - "Responding to the G8 summit statement on food security, ActionAid calls it outrageous that the G8 should use the food crisis to push more of the same failed policies down the throats of hungry people. 'Promote local purchase of food aid' rings hollow. " -- ActionAid. More >>

09 July 2008 8:55am: Full Text Of G8 Leaders' Statement On Zimbabwe - "About the situation in Zimbabwe: We deplore the fact that the Zimbabwean authorities pressed ahead with the presidential election despite the absence of appropriate conditions for free and fair voting as a result of their systematic violence."" -- G8 Leaders, G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. More >>

09 July 2008 8:38am: G8 Should Boost Agriculture Investment To Reduce Hunger - "The UN agencies working to alleviate global hunger have called for decisive action by the Group of Eight (G-8) most industrialized countries, currently meeting in Japan, to boost investment in agriculture to help feed the world." -- United Nations. More >>

09 July 2008 8:37am: G8 Has 'Unprecedented' Chance To Halt Food Crisis - "The G-8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, bringing together the heads of the world's richest nations, provides an "unprecedented" opportunity for global leadership to tackle the global food crisis that is plunging millions around the world into hunger." -- United Nations. More >>

09 July 2008 8:08am: G8 Leaders Agree to Cut Carbon Emissions by Half - "G8 Leaders have committed to a long-term goal of slashing their emissions of carbon blamed for global warming. Officials say the plan is a first step toward building consensus. G8 countries have agreed to cut their carbon emissions in half by 2050." -- VOA. More >>

09 July 2008 8:04am: G8 Leaders Promise Help For African Agriculture - "Leaders from the world's largest industrial nations are promising more food aid and agricultural assistance for Africa to help ease the impact of rising food costs. Some NCOs say increasing demand for biofuels is partly to blame." -- VOA. More >>

09 July 2008 8:02 am: G8 Leaders Examine Goals, Shortcomings on Emergency Africa Aid - "Leaders of the world's advanced economies have been meeting with counterparts from some of the world's poorest African nations on the first day of the G8 summit in northern Japan. The G8 leaders are facing criticism for failing to come through on promises they made to Africa's neediest inhabitants." -- VOA. More >>

8 July 2008, 2:42 pm: G8 Summit, Press Secretary's Summary, July 6 2008 - "Japan-US Summit Meeting / Japan-Canada Summit Meeting / Question concerning the world food crisis / Question concerning the differences between the Japanese Government position and the Canadian Government position on concrete global targets to address climate change." -- G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. More >>

08 July 2008 9:53am : Bush And Other G8 Leaders Meet African Nations Representitives - "Today the President and other G8 leaders met with reps of African nations: Senegal and Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, and the chair of the African Union. They discussed global issues, health, food, trade and investment." -- The White House. More >>

08 July 2008 9:17am: Young People Present Proposals To G8 Leaders - "Young people holding their own parallel summit to the current Group of Eight (G-8) meeting in Japan today presented their proposals for global development to the leaders of the world's most industrialized nations, in an initiative led by UNICEF." -- United Nations. More >>

08 July 2008 9:02am: G8 & African Leaders Discuss Zimbabwe, Food Crisis - "Members of G8 major industrialized democracies met with leaders from 7 African nations to discuss actions against Zimbabwe over its flawed presidential election and an array of global issues confronting Africa, including health, food, trade, investment." -- America.gov More >>

08 July 2008 6:27am: President Bush & President Kikwete of Tanzania At G8 - "You see differently, but for us in Africa we see differently. But I think again, there is still room for us for discussions. We are saying no party can govern alone in Zimbabwe, and therefore the parties have to work together." -- President Kikwete. More >>

08 July 2008 5:24am: As G8 leaders Gather, Ban Ki-Moon Spotlights 3 Key Challenges - "As the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) countries gathered in Hokkaido, Japan, for their summit meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for urgent action to tackle three key challenges the world is currently grappling with." -- United Nations. More >>

07 July 2008 10:26pm: Gordon Brown Joins Outreach Working Session At G8 - "The UK Prime Minister has joined a meeting of the G8 leaders and mainly Afircan leaders in an Outreach Working Session. The agenda for the meeting centres on global challenges and meeting the Millennium Development Goals." -- 10 Downing St. More >>

07 July 2008 10:04pm: Gordon Brown Meets Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda At G8 - "Gordon Brown has arrived for the G8 Summit in Hokkaido. The PM began with a bilateral meeting with Japanese PM Fukuda. The discussion was very much focused on the main themes of the summit agenda - oil and food prices, climate change and development." -- 10 Downing St. More >>

07 July 2008 9:39pm: Gordon Brown To Press G8 For Action On Food Prices - "Gordon Brown is to use the G8 meeting of world leaders to push for global action to deal with rising food prices, by focussing on coping with increasing demand, and addressing worldwide food waste. Cereal production in the developing world must increase." -- 10 Downing St. More >>

07 July 2008 8:25pm: G8 Summit Leaders Need To Deliver On Promises - "The international trade union movement, through its Global Unions AIDS Progamme, has joined with civil society groups in Africa and around the world as part of the World AIDS Campaign to ensure that universal access remains on the G8 agenda." -- ITUC. More >>

07 July 2008 8:23pm: Responding To Global Crises: Role Of G8 Leadership - "The G8 Leaders must ensure that their economic, finance and labour ministers take action in coordination with central banks to halt the contagion and ensure that measures taken have a specific focus on raising the quality and quantity of jobs." -- Trade Union Advisory Committee More >>

07 July 2008 7:26pm: G8 Leaders Summit Opens In Toyako, Northern Japan - French President Sarkozy told Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun that he expects the G-8 to address the food crisis by urging more countries to lift restrictions on food exports. Such a move would give needy countries access to the surplus food. More >>

07 July 2008 6:10pm: Zimbabwean Church Workers Plead For G8 Action - Speaking from Zimbabwe, a spokesman for Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA), a partner of UK aid agency Tearfund, said, 'We call on the G8 leaders to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to address the double disaster of the political and humanitarian crises. More >>

07 July 2008 3:16pm: Food Crisis, Climate Change, MDGs Top UN's G8 Agenda - "We must act, in Hokkaido and beyond -- not merely because it is the right thing to do but also because it is in the enlightened interest of all of us," Mr. Ban wrote ahead of the group's meeting on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. More >>

07 July 2008 10:43am: Gordon Brown Pledges Concrete Action At G8 Summit - "The G8, as the richest nations, have a responsibility to deliver on the promises they have made to the world's poor. His Holiness has today spoken of the need for the world to act to lift people from the most grinding poverty." -- Gordon Brown. More >>

BACKGROUND/FAQ

06 July 2008, 11:58 am: The G8 Leaders Summit In Hokkaido, Japan, From 7-9 July, 2008 - The G8 is an annual meeting for discussion and co-operation created by the world's major industrialised countries. The G8 is neither an institution nor an international organisation and has no legal basis. The G8 takes no binding decisions. The G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Commission President is a full G8 Member and has a leading role in representing the Union at the G8 summit.More >>

FEATURED

Blair's Climate Plan: A Way To A G8 Deal? - "Cutting emissions will cost money, but may not cost as much as is thought - perhaps less than the current oil-price spike, for instance. Developing countries have to be involved, but this is also where emission cuts are cheapest.'' - Think-Tank Researcher."

Breaking Deadlock For A Low-Carb Future - There is now virtually overwhelming evidence about climate change and its consequences; there remain uncertainties, but the risks of negative and irreversible consequences are clearly high. ''Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.''

G8 Nations Lagging In Climate Race - None of the leading industrialized nations are currently on target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid the threshold level for unacceptable risk of catastrophic climate change, according to new research into national policies and performance.

G8 Climate Scorecards 2008 - Climate performance of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and Unites States of America. Background information for China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Climate change is a serious and urgent threat to global society.

RECENTLY

India PM Statement On G8-Outreach - ''Over the years, India's participation in the G-8/G-5 dialogue process has enabled us to articulate our concerns on a wide range of issues in a forthright manner, on an equal footing. Today, India ’s views are heard with respect.'' - India's PM.

Bush In Japan For G8 Leaders Summit - U.S. President Bush is in Japan for the annual meeting of the G8 leading industrial nations. G8 leaders are expected to denounce the re-election of Zimbabwean President Mugabe. Bush will press fellow leaders to deliver on previous promises to help Africa.

Canadian NGOs Petition For Food Crisis Action - Leaders of the world's powerful countries will gather at the G8 meeting in Japan to take action on the food crisis. A coalition of 18 Canadian NGOs are urging the G8 to implement some long-term initiatives needed to stem the tide of the food crisis.

G8 Summit Leaders to Discuss Africa, Climate - Leaders from the world's biggest industrial nations meet in Japan on Monday for the annual Group of Eight summit. U.S. President George Bush says he will use this year's G8 summit to press other leaders to honor previous commitments to help Africa.

Non-Proliferation Issue - Background, Goals - North Korea's nuclear & missile development is a serious threat to peace & security of Japan & the international community. Iran conducted uranium enrichment experiments & other nuclear activities for about 20 years without declaring them to the IAEA.

Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy - As climate change and the rapidly expanding demand for energy become significant problems, there is a growing interest in nuclear energy, which is nonfossil fuel energy, does not emit CO2 in the process of combustion of energy for electricity.

DNDi: Neglected Tropical Diseases R&D - G8 governments are urged to support both control programs and research & development (R&D) initiatives for neglected tropical diseases. New and better-adapted treatments and diagnostics are needed for chronically endemic tropical diseases.

World Bank Warns 'World Enters Danger Zone' - World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick has called on leaders of the G8 as well as the major oil producers to act now to deal with surging food and energy prices, warning that the world is now ''entering a danger zone.''

G8 Japan: President Bush Discusses 2008 Summit Issues - "We'll be talking about energy security and, of course, at the same time, the climate change issue. I'll be reminding people that we can have better energy security and we can be better stewards of the environment without sacrificing economic growth." -- President George W. Bush. More >>

BUILD-UP

• Barroso To Represent EU At G8 Hokkaido
• Food security: IFRC Urges G8 Action
• Food Aid & Development Top G8 Priority
• G8 Urged To Address Population Issues
• Current Global Crises Demand Decisive Action
• Gordon Brown Has Green Message For G8
• Press Briefing On Bush's G8 Japan Trip

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