G-8 countries fail to back up promises, aid agency says

Published: 2004-06-08

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- The world's leading industrial nations have failed to back up promises on reducing poverty in developing countries, said a British Catholic aid agency. The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, or CAFOD, said Group of Eight countries have failed to produce the money or necessary plans to back up commitments made to heavily indebted poor countries. The G-8 countries, consisting of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia, open a summit June 8 at Sea Island, Ga. CAFOD said that at the 2002 summit in the Canadian town of Kananaskis in Alberta, G-8 leaders committed themselves to achieving the millennium development goals in Africa by 2015. During the time of that summit, the New Partnership for Africa's Development and the World Bank estimated that $54 billion would be needed annually in combined debt relief and development assistance to reach those goals.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .