The accomplishments of the G8, G20 Canada summit meetings

Now that all the hoopla over the Toronto G20 riots is starting to die down, it's time to take a look at the agreements carved out by the G8 and G20 summits just wrapped up in Canada.

"What binds the G8 nations together," begins the G8 Muskoka Declaration, "is a shared vision that major global challenges must and can be addressed effectively through focus, commitment and transparency, and in partnership with other concerned members of the global community." The G8 nations -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- meet once a year. The G8 summit in Huntsville also saw invited guests participate in discussions about Africa. The agenda put together by Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper included Development; Food Security; Africa; Environmental Sustainability and Green Recovery; Trade and Investment; and International Peace and Security. The broad topics were the jump-off points for more in-depth discussions and negotiations. The key agreement to come from Muskoka was what is called The Muskoka Initiative. This was Prime Minister Stephen Harper's main focus, and the resulting agreement on enhancing maternal, infant and child under five health initiative in developing countries will see $5 billion contributed by the G8 nations over 5 years time. The initiative is a way of meeting Millennium Development Goals, and is for the express purpose of significantly reducing "the number of maternal, newborn and under five child deaths in developing countries." Harper was pleased his efforts to broker the the initiative were fruitful, saying in a press release issued June 26

“I am very pleased to announce Canada’s contribution to this critical initiative. Our contribution will make significant, tangible differences in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. Canada led the way in mobilizing support among G-8 and non-G-8 leaders, key donors and private foundations for this initiative to reduce the mortality rates of mothers and their children. We have been successful.”

Canada will contribute $2.85 billion to the initiative over the five-year period. International Development agencies and women's groups, however, are not so quick to applaud the Muskoka Initiative. Plan Canada said the $5 billion

"... falls far short of what Plan Canada and other NGOs are calling for from G8 leaders in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health by 2015."

While Plan encouraged the G8 nation leaders to contribute more, Plan also said

"... Collectively however, the G8 failed to step up to its fair share of what is urgently needed globally to save the lives of millions of women and children. The longer it takes to fill the more than $30 billion MDG funding gap for maternal, newborn and child health, the more lives will be lost."

Note: MDG = Millennium Development Goal Harper pronounced theG8 summit as a success, saying the group had been "re-focused, ... reshaped and re-energized." An opinion piece in the Toronto Star contradicted Harper, calling the meeting "lack-lustre." The next G8 summit will be hosted by France next year. The G8 leaders moved to Toronto to join the others who make up the G20. Consisting of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, the G20 meets regularly and is

"... the premier forum for our international economic development that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability."

Brazil's President could not make the meeting. Harper's focus for the G20, according to the Toronto Star, was the reduction of deficits and debt loads over the next five years. Harper's key goal, to prevent a tax on banks, was achieved. The summit declaration promised the G20 had taken the

"... next steps to ensure a full return to growth with quality jobs, to reform and strengthen financial systems, and to create strong, sustainable and balanced global growth."

The declaration warns the recovery from the global recession is fragile, and continued recovery is the only way to cut the pain felt by millions of unemployed people around the world. Guided by an International Monetary Fund report that was written specifically for the summit, the leaders said they could create millions of jobs and generate trillions of dollars globally. The way out of the fragile recovery is based on continued fiscal stimulus, strengthening social safety nets, pursuing structural reforms and evening out global demand. Austerity measures are the way to correct budget deficits, but many austerity measures slash support for social safety nets. Greece and the United Kingdom have already implemented austerity measures, while Italy has just unveiled its plan. France, German and Japan are engaging in some high level belt-tightening. The United States has refused to plan to implement austerity measures thus far, to the consternation of other G20 nations. Financial sector reform, the hot-button issue for the Toronto summit, was put on the back burner again. International banks, such as the World Bank, will receive more funds from G20 nations, to allow the banks to lend out more to struggling nations. The Globe & Mail quoted Toronto-Dominion Bank economists Craig Alexander, Beata Caranci and Martin Schwerdtfeger, summing up the G20 as ho-hum.

“In the end, the Toronto summit essentially laid out a broad range of issues where there was an agreement on assessments and principles. The G-20 Toronto summit provided little in the way of new developments to highlight, but re-confirmed the key policy areas that leaders are looking to make progress on and it acknowledged the importance of fiscal consolidation over the medium-term and global growth rebalancing.”

The next G20 will meet in Korea in November.