G8 Issues

The G8 leaders spent 16 May ‘in retreat', discussing their main agenda. On 17 May they issued a 10 page declaration, half the usual length. In their discussions they spent most time on international crime and debt relief for low-income countries. Other items, including the main item of employability, were taken more rapidly.

Crime. The leaders began on 16 May with a briefing from the head of the UK National Crime Squad, supported by videos. They responded well to this original approach and agreed without difficulty a series of points focusing on hi-tech crime, money laundering and other financial crime, trafficking in persons and illegal manufacture and smuggling of firearms. They undertook to support current UN work on drugs and on drawing up a convention on transnational organised crime.

This was the first time the leaders have had a well-prepared discussion on this theme. It should prove influential and may be what Birmingham 1998 is best remembered for. Cooperation among the G8 is already quite far advanced. But even here, it is clear that cooperation between law-enforcement agencies has gone further than judicial cooperation; it is easier to catch the criminals than to bring them to justice. In the wider, UN context there is still a long way to go before the G8 leaders can think they are winning the war against international crime.

Debt and Development. The summit made some significant advances in getting better debt relief for low-income countries. The aim is to have all eligible countries engaged in the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) scheme by the year 2000. When countries have the necessary track record in IMF-approved policies, they should get the relief they need for ‘a lasting exit' from their debt problems. Interim debt relief should be available to them if needed; and accelerated measures are offered for African countries emerging from conflict. This agreement gives G8 endorsement to part of the proposals launched by the British finance minister Gordon Brown at the IMF meeting at Hong Kong, after being agreed in the Commonwealth and called the ‘Mauritius mandate'.

This is intended to accelerate the HIPC process, which was flagging. Sadly, there is still plenty of scope for foot-dragging. The Germans remain unenthusiastic about the process – this emerged clearly from briefings by Kohl and his officials. The issue of IMF gold sales (raised at Lyon back in 1996) is still unresolved, so that the financing of the IMF share of the HIPC process is yet to be decided. While the UK deserves credit for pushing this debt issue, year after year, the sums available for low-income countries, whether in debt relief or from other sources, look mean when compared the huge rescue packages assembled for Thailand, Korea and Indonesia. The organizers of the big demonstration sounded very disappointed.

There are some other measures in the Communique of benefit to poor countries. The leaders endorsed the OECD's 21^st Century Strategy for economic and social development; they promised work on untying of aid; they supported the WHO's campaign against malaria and other campaigns against AIDS; and they offered some trade and investment measures for least-developed countries. All these are welcome confirmations of support, at summit level, of international work in hand. But they fall short of the expectations raised at Denver, especially on help for Africa. The Americans' difficulties in getting aid funds out of Congress are a persistent constraint.

Employability. The discussion on employment issues was harmonious, with none of the transatlantic clashes of earlier years; but it was apparently brief and general. The Declaration endorses the substantial work accomplished by employment and finance ministers during the year, but adds nothing new. The main achievement of the summit in this field has been to give impetus to work at lower levels, in an atmosphere of greater readiness to learn from the experience of others.

In addition to these main themes, there were briefer exchanges on economic policy; trade; energy; climate change; and the millennium bug.

Economic Policy. While the G7 looked at new financial architecture, the G8 considered the wider implications of the Asian crisis. The Communique contains a useful warning against a reveval of protectionist pressures. At a late stage – too late for the Communique – the leaders decided to commend China for its responsible role in the Asian financial crisis.

Trade. There was a short exchange only, looking forward to the next series of WTO negotiations, due to begin in 2000. Santer argued the EU case in favour of a comprehensive Millennium round, but he did not convince the US, as was clear from Clinton's speech at the WTO on 18 May. Canada, too, has yet to decide on this. This was a wasted opportunity for a serious discussion on trade and investment and the protectionist pressures unleashed by globalisation. Clinton's failure to get fast-track authority puts him in a weak position. Even so, it will be essential to have a thorough treatment of this theme in Germany in 1999.

Energy. The relevant passages of the Communique hark back to the Energy Ministerial in Moscow in March, and the Nuclear Safety Summit of 1996. At first sight, their aim is to ensure the Russians live up to the undertakings made there, both on general energy policy and on nuclear energy.

Climate Change. The British had allowed plenty of time for this topic, expecting a difficult exchange as at Denver in 1997. But no one was in the mood for this; and agreement was easily reached on exhortations to all to sign the Kyoto Protocol within the next year, to bring in the necessary domestic measures to meet their commitments, and to work together with developing countries.