Bangladesh government echoes civil society call for debt to be on G8 Summit agenda

The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister, Abdus Samad Azad, called on the powerful Group of Eight countries on 8^th June to take into account the needs of developing nations when their leaders meet at the forthcoming G8 Summit in Okinawa, Japan. In particular, he stressed that debt, amongst other topics, should be on the agenda of the G8 Summit in July.

Speaking in an interview with The Daily Yomiuri during his visit to Japan last week, he said: “The G-8 summit is a very important forum, whose deliberations and outcome are of interest to all countries. This is why we feel that the concerns and interests of developing countries, in particular LDCs [less developed countries], should be brought to the knowledge of the G-8 leaders.”

The G8 Summit in Okinawa is potentially a critical turning point in the global campaign for debt cancellation. Azad's comments came just days after a meeting of civil society and non-governmental organisation (NGO) activists in Dhaka, organised by the Campaign for Cancellation of Foreign Debt (CCFD) which is part of the global Jubilee 2000 movement. The campaign held a major national conference on 5^th July attended by leading academics, campaigners, trade unionists, over 500 non-governmental organisations as well as two visiting campaigners from Britain.

At the end of the day-long conference, a final declaration was read out calling for total debt cancellation for the poorest countries was read out. Over a thousand people then marched through the city towards a central square, the Shaheed Minar, where a symbolic 100 minute hunger strike was held. This public show of concern in Dhaka obviously made a significant impact upon the public consciousness, for it was reported in all the main Bangladeshi newspapers, as well as on 2 television channels. CCFD emphasise that debt relief for Bangladesh, and other poor countries, could bring considerable benefits if the money released through such a measure is managed with the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable in mind. In a country like Bangladesh where 70% of children are born malnourished, this means channelling resources into areas like health and health education.

In order for this to happen, though, the powerful creditor countries of the G8 will have to take the appropriate actions to push through effective debt relief plans at the Okinawa Summit in July. Civil society organisations like CCFD are acutely aware of the importance of influencing the decisions of the G8, and are effectively lobbying their own governments to promote the debt cancellation issue in the upper echelons of international politics. The ripples from the wave of public concern evident at the Dhaka meeting and rally were felt in Japan later in the week. Amir Hossain Amu, the Bangladeshi Food Minister, assured the Dhaka meeting that he would advocate debt cancellation at the highest level in the run-up to the Okinawa Summit. This promise was carried through four days later as Foreign Minister Azad publicly stressed the need for the G8 to factor in the interests of developing countries affected by their discussions and make decisions on such pressing matters as debt.

Bangladesh is not alone in pointing out that the outcomes of the G8 Summit may directly affect developing countries. In Africa, too, the debt cancellation campaigners' demands are increasingly being taken up by advocates in government: in March, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) also called for the representation of Southern perspectives on debt at the G8 discussion table in Okinawa. So far, the Japanese government, currently chairing the G8, has said that it is willing to consult Southern nations prior to the meetings, but has refused to let their representatives attend the actual Summit. Japan's unwillingness to engage fully with the concerns of developing countries has further fuelled many campaigners' suspicions that the debt issue is in danger of being sidelined at the Summit. Okinawa, an island remote from mainland Japan, is the perfect location for the G8 to hide away from the high-profile demands for debt cancellation, voiced ever more loudly by southern governments and civil society alike.