G8 Pledges Billions in Farm Aid

Poorer countries are set to benefit from the outcomes of the G8 meeting in the Italian town of L’Aquila.

20 billion U.S dollars has been pledged by the major industrial nations from the Group of Eight.

The funding will be for farm aid.

It’ll be used to boost agricultural investment and fight food insecurity.

Leaders from various African states were also present at the talks.

The pledge shows a shift in policy from emergency aid support to longer-term strategies helping to make communities more self-sufficient.

But some NGO’s are cautious about the aid.

[Patrick Watt, Head, World Vision of Public Affairs & Campaigns]:
„We welcome that in principle, but there are a lot of unanswered questions about how much of that’s new money, how much of that is going to be loaned through the World Bank and other institutions, and how much of that is going to actually tackle hunger in the poorest countries.“

Topping the agenda was also the financial markets.

The global economy remains at the forefront of the talks with U.S president Barack Obama saying there is still a long road to recovery.

[Barack Obama, U. S. President]:
„We agree that full recovery is still a ways off — that it would be premature to begin winding down our stimulus plans“.

Obama also spoke of the political situation in Iran.

[Barack Obama, U. S. President]:
„What we wanted was exactly what we got, which is a statement of unity and strong condemnation about the appalling treatment of peaceful protesters post election in Iran, as well as some behaviour that just violates
basic international norms.“

The U.S president also lead the fight against climate change with major economies agreeing to limit global warming.

But top emitters China and India were not persuaded.

(NTDTV)