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Africa Gleneagles Follow Up

2005:Year of Africa

In 2006,to mark the first anniversary of Gleneagles, we published a short booklet: ‘G8 Gleneagles: One Year On’ that highlighted progress by the international community in twelve areas – from aid and debt cancellation to fighting disease and promoting business.

Also, in July 2006, under the Russian Presidency, G8 Leaders agreed the St Petersburg "Update Statement on Africa"

2005 saw an unprecedented level of attention given to Africa. The UK, as President of the G8, was a strong advocate for change leading up to and at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in July, which agreed a package of measures including commitments to double aid by 2010 – an extra US $50 billion globally, including $25 billion for Africa - and to provide 100% debt cancellation for up to 38 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) countries worth US $50 billion.

At the UN Summit in September 2005, 191 countries agreed unanimously to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, recognising the special needs of Africa. Many of the G8 Gleneagles’ commitments were given global endorsement, including the objective to provide access to HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention for all those who need it by 2010. The Summit also agreed to establish a Peacebuilding Commission and the Responsibility to Protect. In December, the European Union launched a new Strategic Partnership with Africa.

The commitments made in 2005 represent a comprehensive Plan to tackle the challenges faced by poor countries and poor people, particularly in Africa. The main exception was trade where the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial in December 2005 did not achieve as much as the Government had hoped. The UK is working to make sure that a global deal is agreed by the end of 2006 that provides real benefits to developing countries.

This is a long-term agenda. Our aid volume commitments take us up to 2010, and the Millennium Development Goals relate to 2015. So we will be working over the next ten years to ensure delivery.

Also on this page:

Tracking progress

Examples of progress

Key dates

Tracking Progress Against Commitments

The challenge now is to ensure that pledges made in 2005 are fully implemented. The Government is working closely with G8 and other developed country governments, as well as our partners in developing countries, to achieve this.

The Gleneagles Implementation Plan sets out milestones the UK believes we need to meet in 2006 to stay on track for delivery of the whole package agreed last year. This was first published in December 2005 and is updated regularly for Parliament.

The UK Government is determined that commitments made by G8 and other Governments will be followed up. To help track progress, the Government has published a number of reports. This includes:

To coincide with the first anniversary of the launch of the Commission for Africa report (11 March 2005), the Government published a report (392 kb) in March 2006 on what the UK has been doing to take forward the Commission’s recommendations and to ensure G8 Gleneagles’ commitments are implemented;

The Africa Partnership Forum, which was tasked by the G8 to monitor implementation of their commitments, as well as those made by other donors and African governments themselves. The UK is providing 20% of the funding for a new Support Unit, which will help the Forum play this monitoring role effectively.

Examples of progress:

What has the UK been doing to take forward the Commission’s recommendations and to ensure G8 Gleneagles’ commitments are implemented?

More aid: The UK is on track to meet the UN target of 0.7% of national income as aid (ODA) by 2013, two years ahead of the EU target of 2015. UK aid has increased from £2.5 billion in 1997/98 to £6.6 billion in 2005/06. We have exceeded our target of spending £1 billion in Africa in 2005/06. By 2007/08 we will spend at least £1.25 billion;

On debt: The G8’s proposal to cancel multilateral debts for some of the poorest countries in the world has already been implemented for 21 countries, 17 in Africa. 100% debt cancellation from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank’s International Development Association and the African Development Bank under the multilateral debt initiative adopted at Gleneagles. The Paris Club has written off $18bn of Nigeria’s outstanding debts. The UK alone wrote off £2.8 billion. This frees up an extra US $1 billion a year for poverty reduction, which can be used to employ an extra 120,000 teachers and put 3.5 million children into school;

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation, launched in September 2005 by the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Norway, alongside a grant from the Gates Foundation, will provide $4 billion for vaccinations, aiming to prevent 5 million deaths from preventable diseases by 2015, plus 5 million after that. First Bonds launched on 6 November and raised US$1 billion for immunisation through the Gavi Alliance. Overall the UK has committed £1.38 billion to IFFIm.

On trade: The outcome of the World Trade Organisation Ministerial meeting in December 2005 was disappointing, but trade Ministers agreed: an end to cotton export subsidies judged illegal by the WTO; an end to agriculture export subsidies by 2013; and duty and Quota Free Access for at least 97% of products from Least Developed Countries. DFID has announced that it will treble its aid to help boost poor countries’ capacity to trade to £100 million a year by 2010, and the EU is aiming to increase aid for trade to €2 billion per year by 2010. The Doha Round did not conclude in 2006 as planned but informal talks on the Round negotiations restarted in late 2006, with a view to finalising it in 2007.

On AIDS and Health, US$ 3.7 billion has been committed to replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) for 2006/07. The UK committed £200 million – doubling its previous annual contribution level. UK has pledged £1.5 billion for HIV and AIDS work between 2005 and 2008, including £150 million for orphans and vulnerable children. For World AIDS Day (1 Dec 2005), the EU issued a strong statement on prevention. The UK committed an additional £27.5 million for AIDS prevention for the next 3 years (£20 million for International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, £7.5 million for Partnership for Microbiocides).
At the UN High Level meeting on HIV and AIDS (31 May – 2 June 2006), Nations agreed to develop ambitious plans by 2008 and 2010 to increase universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010; and set a funding target of $20-23 billion annually for AIDS programmes by 2010.
The number of people receiving AIDS treatment in low middle income countries rose from 400,000 to 1.6 million. International Drug Purchase facility (UNITAD), first Board meeting in October 2006 approved $35 million for paediatric Anti-retroviral treatment to reach up to 200,000 children suffering from AIDS over 2007/08. UNITAD will also provide $70 million to fund the scale up of second line treatment for 100,000 people on 2007. First Advanced Market Commitment for new vaccines, launched in February 2007. It will target new pneumococcal disease, bringing potentially life saving vaccines more quickly to 100 million children and preventing over 5 million deaths by end of 2007.
On Tuberculosis: Launch of Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis at World Economic Forum in January 2006. Aim is to halve deaths from TB by 2015.

To promote economic growth, the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa was launched in October 2005 (UK commitment $20m over 3 years), 3rd ICA meeting in January 2007 in Germany reaffirmed need to meet the Commission for Africa target of an additional $10 billion for Africa per year by 2010. China participated for the first time. ICA has already helped accelerate funding decisions on 10 regional projects, worth nearly $700 million. Overall, donor funding for infrastructure is expected to increase from $4bn to around $6bn a year by 2008;
The Investment Climate Facility was launched by African leaders in June 2006 to make the continent a better place to do business. Funding has been secured for the first phase with $30 million from the UK alongside contributions from the Netherlands, Ireland, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and EC, plus the private sector. The Board has approved an initial suite of projects which include land ownership, the rule of law and infrastructure;

Humanitarian: The Reformed UN Central Emergency Response Fund for Humanitarian Aid was launched 9 March 2006, to provide UN humanitarian agencies with immediate access to funds to start responding to crisis. 49 donors pledged a total of $345 million for 2007. This was a significant increase on the contribution for 2006 ($269m), demonstrating an increased international commitment to predicable and effective humanitarian financing.
The UK is the largest contributor - total commitment of £164 million over the next three years. The CERF has provided humanitarian assistance to a number of countries, including Darfur, Afghanistan Niger and Lebanon.

Education for All High Level Meeting in Beijing (December 2005) agreed to doubling of current levels of aid to basic education, removal of school fees, scaling up efforts to boost girls’ participation and female literacy. A draft Joint Action Plan for achieving Education For All (EFA) in 2015 was endorsed for further development by UNESCO
The new Education Initiative at the Financing for Development Conference in Nigeria in May, and the UK's pledge to provide £8.5 million for Education over the next 10 years, stimulated 25 African countries to begin work on long-term Education plans. Alongside this, the Education Fast Track Initiative is being expanded. DFID will be providing £100m over the next 2 years, in addition to the £50m announced last year. A conference to be convened by the EU and World Bank in the Spring 2007 will encourage donors to make long-term commitments to fund these plans;

UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) came into force on 14 December 2005. UK ratified February 2006 and is encouraging others to follow suit. At the 1st conference of States Parties in December 2006, Jordan reached agreement on effective and transparent mechanisms for implementing and monitoring Convention, as well as for strengthening the framework for international asset recovery. The African Peer Review Mechanism, under which African Governments hold each other to account on political, economic and corporate governance standards, is also making progress. 26 countries have signed up, 3 countries - Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda have been peer reviewed and reports have been published. A further two countries are expected to be reviewed by the end of 2007.
Corruption also needs to be rooted out of business. 26 countries have signed up to implement the Extractive Industries transparency Initiative (EITI) First Conference took take place in October 2006 in Oslo. Five countries reported against EITI criteria and a further four countries are expected to do so by the end of March 2007.

Peace and security: Peace and security: Donors, including UK have increased support for the Africa Union’s peacekeeping missions in Burundi and development of the African Standby Force, which will boost Africa’s capacity to deploy effective peacekeeping missions in the future. EU agreed to provide €300 million over 3 years. G8 remains on track to train 75,000 peacekeepers worldwide by 2010, with sustained focus on Africa. The African Union is making progress towards its objective of a fully operational African Standby Force (ASF) by 2010. The ASF has around 15,000 troops pledged, Bridge Headquarters have been established and are manned in three regions.
The UN Peacebuilding Commission was established last December 2005. Elections of all 31 members, including from the UK were held in May 2206. First country meetings on Burundi and Sierra Leone took place in October 2006 and agreed focus areas for both countries. Peace Building Fund launched in October 2006: UK pledged £30 million over 3 years (2006-09);

Tuberculosis: Launch of Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis at World Economic Forum in January 2006. Aim is to halve deaths from TB by 2015;

Water: UK on track to meet our commitment to double annual spend on water and sanitation in Africa to £95m by 2007/08. Other donors, such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, France, Germany and the Netherlands have committed to increase their support;

Environment and Climate change: The UK and others has been working with the World Bank to put together an Energy Investment Framework to accelerate the adoption of technologies to enable cleaner, more efficient energy production and use. This was discussed at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in April 2006 and the Clean Energy Investment Framework progress report was approved at the Annual Meetings in September 2006. It is also scheduled for discussion again at the Spring Meetings in 2007. Climate for Development in Africa Global Climate Observation System (GSOC) programme was endorsed at the AU Summit in Ethiopia in January 2007. The UK is planning to commit £5 million towards funding phase 1 of this initiative.

Key dates for 2006

April: High Level Education meeting " Keeping our promises on Education", Brussels

April: World Trade Organisation Doha Development Round: Estimated timeline for resumption of full negotiations

April: Anual OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) report on global aid volumes expected..

14 - 15 April: IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings, Washington

14 - 15 May: General Affairs and External Relations Council, Brussels Expected to review progress against EU aid volume targets.

22 - 23 May: African Partnership Forum, Berlin. Will focus on climate change, gender, investment and peace and security.

May: Education for All (EFA) Fast Track Initiatives (FTI) Committee Meeting, Bonn.

6 - 7 June: Germany G8 Presidency, Heiligendamm, Germany - to review progress two years on from the Gleneagles summit

1 - 3 July: AU Summit, Ghana

September: IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings

October: Africa Partnership Forum, Ghana

DFID Department for International Development

Africa Gleneagles Follow Up

Tracking Progress Against Commitments

Examples of progress:

Key dates for 2006

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