What We’re Reading 9/25/09: G20 Day

Sep 25th, 2009 12:15 PM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

The Guardian: G20 summit: what it will decide
The Guardian provides a general overview of what world leaders are expected to accomplish at this year’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh, including a focus on international trade and aid. According to journalist, Richard Wray, “Aid agencies will heavily scrutinize a proposal to charge the World Bank with the job of creating a “multilateral trust fund” to increase agricultural investment in poor countries.” The draft communique pledges the G20 nations to move as “quickly as possible” to reach a settlement.

The Washington Post: Reflecting New Global Economic Order, More Expansive G-20 to Replace G-8
A senior White House official has said that the Group of 20 largest economies will permanently replace the G-8 as the main forum for international economic cooperation in a move expected to give greater clout to developing nations. According to the Washington Post, “the change, which has been pushed by President Obama, will be announced Friday by world leaders attending the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. It would make official a growing consensus that the G-20′s broader membership better represents a new global economy.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Protesters to leaders: Stay true to Africa
In Pittsburgh this week, African immigrants and other protesters decried the G-20 member nations, which “they said are to blame for the capitalist structures that continue to prop up brutal dictators on the continent.” According to an official from Jubilee USA, “The success and humanity of the G-20 Summit will ultimately be measured by the livelihood and fate of the poorest, particularly in Africa.” Jubilee USA is joined by a list of international social justice organizations, including ONE, who are pushing the G20 to address issues of poverty and debt cancellation in Africa and to “recommit itself to African development.”

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg): ‘Put Continent on the G20 Agenda in Pittsburgh’
As the co-chair of the working group on reforming the International Monetary Fund and the only African country on the G20, the South African branch of the advocacy group, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (CGAP) contends that South Africa has “a moral obligation towards the continent to call for more responsible management of the global financial system.” In an open letter to South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, CGAP asks that “G20 countries provide additional resources for poor countries to deal with the financial crisis without setting harmful conditionalities.”

The Washington Times: From aid to accountability (Op-Ed, Abdoulaye Wade)
In an editorial for the Washington Times, President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade discusses the new partnership forming between the U.S. and Senegal, thanks in part to a $540 million dollar Millennium Challenge Corporation grant to support projects in the African country. Wade highlights the promising direction that Africa is taking, saying that the movement toward self-sufficiency, partnership-building, and greater accountability that President Obama spoke of in his Africa address in Ghana in July is starting to take hold.

The Huffington Post: A Changing Tide of Opinion for Girls and Women (Op-Ed, Sarah Brown)
In an address to the UN General Assembly, wife of British Prime Minister, Sarah Brown commends the G8 for putting the health of women and girls on the global agenda, an issue, which she believes is “is transformative and unlocks the key to everything else.” Writes Brown, “Saving and improving the lives of girls and women is central to tackling every issue — whether poverty, nutrition, education, child health, economic prosperity, environment — of, in short, saving the world. And one of the greatest gaps has been in addressing maternal health which has prevented the achievement of any real development progress for decades.”

The Wall Street Journal: Another Benchmark in AIDS Fight, but Not Yet a Landmark
News of the modest success of an AIDS vaccine is being hailed as a “benchmark” in the 30-year-long battle against the devastating disease by public health officials. Trial results indicate that the rate of protection against HIV transmission was a relatively low 31%, “but it was the first benefit ever detected for an AIDS vaccine in people.” Harvard’s Dr. Barry Bloom said the discovery of the new antibodies bodes well for an important new milestone in the battle against the disease. “When you have zero to work on, it’s hard to do better. Once you have 30% and you figure out what’s working and what isn’t, you have a better shot at it,” said Bloom.

-Robyn Mitchell

TAGS: What We're Reading