G-8 Leaders Head to U.S. Summit

The leaders of the world's top industrial nations, known as the Group of Eight or G-8, will gather on Sea Island, just off the coast of the U.S. state Georgia. Including the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, the G-8 summit will be shielded from protestors by heavy security and the islands remote location.

U.S. President George Bush will meet several leaders that just came together at this past weekend's 60th Anniversary D-Day celebrations in France. Bush had hoped the festivities would signal the western world's renewed unity following last year's divisions over Iraq, but he may still face a skeptical group of allies on Tuesday -- the same day the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a new resolution on transferring sovereignty to Iraq.

Despite the broad smiles and joint resolutions that are expected to mark the summit, analysts are divided over whether the meeting will help to spackle over the deep divisions, particularly those between Bush and his trans-atlantic allies in Europe.

"I'm skeptical that the gathering at Sea Island will do much to repair the relationship," Charles Kupchan, a professor of International Relations at Georgetown University, told Reuters. "I expect there to be a show of unity and an agreement on outlines of a program to promote political reform in the broader Middle East, but I don't expect there to be a serious advance in the transatlantic dialogue."

Dialogue not dictates

Bush had hoped to make the so-called "Greater Middle East Initiative" the center piece of this week's meeting. In the original draft version of the document, he expanded on his plans to bring democracy and stability to the region. However, after the draft was leaked to the press in February, international reaction to many of the proposals -- particularly the reaction of many Middle East leaders -- has resulted in a significant reworking of the plan, which may be formally adopted by the G-8 leaders at this week's meeting.

At issue were Middle Eastern leader's contention that Bush and company intended to dictate and impose changes from the outside, when real change should eminate from within the region. The plan has been renamed the "Broader Middle East Initiative" and critics will be discussing whether or not the changes are purely cosmetic or substantive. The new draft explicitatly states that "change cannot be imposed from outside" and stresses dialog not dictates.

That, however, has not proven enough to appease some Middle East leaders. Bush invited many to a special lunch meeting with himself and the other G-8 leaders on Wednesday to discuss the region's future. Notably, the leaders of two of the most powerful countries, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have declined to attend.

Concern about oil price

Despite continuing tensions over the situation in the Middle East, the gathering heads of state will have one thing to smile about: the world economy seems to be on the comeback trail. The situation hasn't looked this good for 15 years with the growth rate averaging 4 percent and the recovery, with the exception of some regions of Africa, appears to be taking hold everywhere.

Now it will be up to the G-8 leaders to formulate policies to help keep things that way. Of particular concern is the price of oil. They may issue a call to OPEC members to further increase production. The price per barrel oil has declined since it reached a high of $40 a barrel, but some are concerned that it could shoot-up as high as $45 a barrel.

If that happens, it could prove a serious drag on the world's economic recovery.

Calls for a more balanced agenda

While G-8 leaders are expected to be largely pre-occupied with the Middle East and maintaining economic recovery, several advocacy groups and some prominent politicians have called for a more balanced agenda -- an agenda that pays more than lip service to the problems of the third world and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

These issues will, no doubt, be a topic of discussion. Following an agreement at the Cologne Summit in 1999, the leaders will discuss whether or not to extend debt relief provided for in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative to additional countries. Furthermore, they will discuss the progress of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) plan, which was formulated at a summit two years ago in Canada. At the time, it was described as a "Marshal Plan for Africa", but some contend that it -- as well as plans to relieve debt -- have not progressed at a fast enough pace.

Writing in the British newspaper the Independent last week, the British Chancellor Gordon Brown wrote that international targets to cut global poverty in half would be missed by more than a century. "The richest countries cannot continue setting targets, failing to meet them and then expecting the poorest countries to trust our word," he wrote. He claimed that Britain would urge other countries to remove "the burden of unpayable debt".