At the end of last week I attended G8 Development Ministers’ meeting in Rome. It fell the day after the launch of ONE’s 2009 DATA Report in Rome. During the final press conference a journalist asked the Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Franco Frattini what his response was to the Report’s findings – Italy has fulfilled only 3% of its commitment and accounts for nearly half the G8’s total gap for 2008. Frattini, without contesting the content of the Report, replied that Italy is aware of the shortfalls and that it would make up for the 2009 financing gap by the end of 2009! This is quite an amazing statement, particularly given what this would mean in dollar terms combined with the government’s deep cuts in bilateral aid that have been foreseen by the 2009 budget.

During the press conference I had the opportunity to ask Frattini when exactly Italy would pay its full 2009 contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Frattini answered that the relevant appropriation law for this will definitely be passed before the end of this year, and that it’s very likely that it may pass before the G8 Summit in L’Aquila.

The 2009 DATA Report has already had a significant impact in Italy and been covered widely in the Italian media. One example of this was during a press conference with Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, also current head of the African Union, someone asked Prime Minister Berlusconi for his response to the DATA Report. Prime Minister Berlusconi confirmed that Italy would certainly honour all of its commitments. He also stated that donors have to be extremely careful to ensure money given reaches the intended recipients.

This Development Ministers’ meeting was followed by the G8 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Lecce, southern Italy. Unfortunately, there were no major agreements or announcements made on our issues. The focus of the meeting was on the “Lecce Framework” – legal standards being drawn up to try and avoid future economic downturns. Here at ONE we are really concerned about the current and future impacts of the recession on the poorest countries around the world. The Managing Director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Kanayo Nwanze, also recently echoed this: “the impact of the financial crisis on developing countries is going to be more visible in several months,” he said, warning that African governments would encounter budget problems in paying civil servants and subsidising food in urban areas.”

Jessica Gomez-Duran