Africa a backdrop at 2012 G8 meeting in Maryland, USA
Tags: Algeria, CNN, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, G20, G8, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Guinea, NATO, Tanzania, Tunisia, VOA News, Yaya Boni
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Getty Images/CNN - Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia
At the 38 th meeting of leaders of the world’s most industrialized nations commonly called the G8 or Group of 8, four African heads of state will meet with world leaders to discuss global food security, an issue threatening many regions of the world. What would be most prominent on the agenda of the world leaders is the European debt crisis, the role of strategic oil reserves in cushioning any economic shock from a European ban on Iranian oil imports, according to Bloomberg News.
African leaders answering present at G8 summit.
Where Africa fits in would be on the subject of global food security, which is on the Agenda as well. “Food security in Africa will also be high on the agenda,” according to the Voice of America (VOA) News.
In relation to food security issues, four African leaders will join food security talks at the summit, according to Faith Karimi in a CNN blog post May 4. The African leaders who would be at the summit are Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi, Ghana’s John Atta Mills, Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete and Yaya Boni of Benin.
According to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation(GBC), “The President, John Evans Atta Mills says though food security is important for the survival of the human race, the four African leaders invited to the G-8 summit in the US will also use the occasion to put forward other related issues concerning the continent.“
The Group of 8 comprises Canada, the United States, Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Currently no African nation is classified as “most industrialized” and as such don’t play any leading role in decision making during these meetings. But it is becoming customary for other world leaders to be part of these meetings. This year’s summit takes place back-to-back to the NATO summit in Chicago which holds May 21 to 22 and comes about a month to the G20, a meeting of the 20 most industrialized nations holding in Mexico.
At the 2011 summit held in France, the leaders of Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tunisia, South Africa, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea were invited. At that meeting, Africa featured much more prominently with an agenda item targeting the G8’s partnership with Africa.
Sources :
- Bloomberg News
- CNN
- Voice of America(VOA)
