Blair & Bush Meet to Find Path for Africa Aid/Debt Relief

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet US President George Bush tomorrow (Tuesday 7th June 2005), asking for the US to back proposals to offer unprecedented levels of aid to Africa. Blair is rallying world support for his proposals ahead of the G8 Summit of the world’s richest nations’ leaders in Edinburgh next month, and plans to ask for a doubling of aid funds to Africa, as well as complete debt relief for the world’s poorest nations.

Blair will ask of Bush this despite the US being more generous last year than ever in its history towards the African continent. Last year the US gave US$3.2 billion in foreign aid according to The Christian Science Monitor, which is about US$4.50 per sub-Saharan African. This is more than any other nation in the world, and triple what the nation have in 2000.

Blair and his finance minister Gordon Brown have proposed that the rich countries should pay the debt as one of the solutions. Another solution mentioned has been to sell some of the International Monetary Fund's gold reserves.

Bush' administration has opposed both scenarios though, and has suggested that the debt should be paid from direct aid budgets, which would result in African countries not receiving any additional funds.

Ahead of the G8 summit, leaders of the European Union have already agreed to provide 0.7% GDP for foreign aid by 2015, so that the targets of the UN may be met.

However, the U.S. has rejected such a target claiming that it already spends more money on foreign aid than any other country – although the amount they offer is still very much under the target GDP proposed by EU nations - just 0.16% of the US GDP.

"We've tripled assistance to Africa since 2001," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "The United States has been leading the way when it comes to aid and development assistance to Africa."

Bush’s administration also fear the levels of corruption in the continent. Bush believes that increasing aid for Africa without political reform and fighting against corruption would not be helpful. It's one reason Washington gives foreign countries just 16 cents per US$100 of gross domestic product, one of the rich world's lowest rates.

The way in which Blair and Bush tackle the issue tomorrow will greatly influence the extent that progress can be made in the G8 Summit next month.

In Britain and across Europe momentum is building for solving Africa’s poverty and humanitarian problems. Bob Geldof has organised a Live 8 concert for July 2 with a whole host of top musicians attending to give their full backing to aid for Africa and the Make Poverty History campaign.

This year Blair will gain power to Chair the G8 and European Union and is attempting to shift the world’s focus to Africa.

Last week the EU voted unanimously to nearly double assistance to poor nations over the next 5 years.

Bush has been more passionate about Africa than many of the previous US Presidents and has ensured that the US has played a pivotal role in bringing about the peace agreement in Sudan and end Africa’s longest war in history.

Blair has proposed an International Finance Facility to fund the aid increase – this would raise billions by having rich nations sell bonds, which would later be repaid. However, The Christian Science Monitor say that the US see it as "a gimmick" to rob future aid budgets to fund a current bigger one.