Overall, the Pittsburgh G20 Summit appears to have made some progress towards reshaping global power structures to make them more representative, but it still has some way to go before it becomes a truly representative global decision making body.

I spent the summit with our US Government Relations Director Tom Hart, who said:

“Moving from the G8 to the G20 is a seismic shift: it brings many more of the world’s people to the table, but the new expanded world body must now start addressing the needs of the poorest countries, especially in Africa. For nearly a decade now, Africa has been squarely on the G8’s agenda, even if delivery on their commitments has been mixed. During this transition time, African development must not fall through the cracks. One way to show the world will not forget Africa would be to hold an upcoming G20 summit on the African continent.”

As I posted earlier here, we passed our petition, in which 75,000 ONE members worldwide call for a G20 Summit to be held in Africa, to the US delegation at the summit.

Below are some key points in the summit’s communique that are relevant to Africa:

• Agriculture – The G20 called on the World Bank to develop a new trust fund, as a way to implement the G8’s food security initiative announced at the L’Aquila Summit in Italy in July. This multilateral fund will support the set of principles championed by the White House to make aid for agriculture more effective, coordinated and geared towards the strategies developed by poor countries themselves.
• Climate change – The G20 failed to call for resources to help the poorest countries adapt to the harmful impacts of climate change, and tackle its causes. It was disappointing that there was no mention of the urgency of addressing these needs.
• African Development Bank – The G20 have reaffirmed the commitment to make sure the multilateral development banks have enough finance, especially the World soft loan arm, the International Development Association (IDA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The African bank has increased its lending to respond to the financial crisis by as much as US$4bn and now needs support to replenish its coffers. ONE welcomes Canada’s announcement of an extra US$2.8bn in loan guarantees for the Bank.
• World Bank and IMF- Both International Financial Institutions took steps towards increasing representation of developing countries.

You can watch him live here:

The text of the communique is below.

Leaders’ Statement: The Pittsburgh Summit
September 24 – 25, 2009

(more…)

Tom Hart and I just delivered ONE’s G20 petition to the US delegation here at the Pittsburgh summit. The petition, now signed by more than 75,000 ONE members from around the globe, asks the G20 leaders to host an upcoming G20 summit on the African continent.

We expect the official summit communique to come out just before President Obama’s remarks, slated for 4:45pm EST today. We’ll keep you posted.

-Ginny Simmons

You might have noticed Nora’s blog post alerting ONE readers that the G20 will be kicking off in a few days in Pittsburgh. In addition to calling for a future G20 meeting to be held on the African continent, ONE is asking that counties in attendance at the G20 clarify the commitments for agriculture and food security they made at L’Aquila G8.

In a demonstration of collective political will—and with thanks to the leadership from the U.S.—the G8 and other countries and institutions pledged $20 billion for global food security at the July G8 meeting in Italy. This pledge will fund what has been dubbed the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, a coordinated and comprehensive plan to address global food security. While the $20 billion was a step in the right direction—especially in the wake of the food crisis of 2008 and the current financial crisis, both of which threaten to drive people further into poverty and hunger—the road is long ahead.

As a next-step, ONE is calling for the G20 to:

• Ensure that the implementation of the pledges for agricultural assistance made at L’Aquila is comprehensive and coordinated through existing and effective mechanisms and partnerships.
• Provide clarity on funding plans made as part of the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative and expand participation in the effort to additional G20 members.

The U.S., UK, Canada, and Italy have already publicly announced and documented their contributions to the L’Aquila $20 billion. At this time, we’d like to hear from countries that have only hinted at their numbers, as well as learn how much of each pledge is new money rather than funding in existing pipelines. But quantity is not all that matters. In order for this initiative to be successful, implementation of assistance should be coordinated and comprehensive. The U.S. has put forth several principles to guide this initiative—that in addition to being coordinated and comprehensive, the initiative be country-owned, multilateral, and sustained over time. We would like to see the G20 adopt these principles as the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative moves forward.

This will not come as news to those of you who have been reading the ONE blog, or watching the headlines about floods in Senegal and droughts in Kenya, but the impediments to achieving food security, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are substantial. The opportunity, however, is also significant. For example, approximately three quarters of people living in sub-Saharan Africa work in agriculture, and agriculture contributes, on average, one third of GDP, which means that if the agricultural sector was carefully and innovatively developed, crop yields and incomes could both increase for African families. If robust funding of good quality can be channeled towards a holistic food security solution, perhaps we will finally see a reversal of the cycle of hunger and poverty in the developing world. Not only that, but with the right investment, Africa has the potential to not only feed itself but to be a breadbasket for the rest of the world. We look forward to keeping you posted here on our website about developments in Pittsburgh, so stay tuned!

The G20 Summit kicks off tomorrow and ONE members are already hard at work on a campaign that is already getting a lot of attention. More than 62,000 ONE members have asked the G20 to go to Africa for one of their upcoming summits and see for themselves how this continent can contribute to a stronger, more stable global economy. Add your name, help us get to 100,00 signers and convince the G20 to make Africa part of the solution.

Yesterday, ONE’s President and CEO David Lane discussed the campaign with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell:

In Pittsburgh, a group of local young people are literally drawing even more attention to ONE’s message of the need to bring the G20 to Africa. The Moving Lives of Kids Community Mural Project is almost done with a vibrant mural that will “deliver” our petition to the world leaders who are meeting nearby. Check out photos of the mural-in-progress here and while you’re at it, add your voice to the petition to hold a G20 Summit in Africa.

But why Africa? As Nora Coghlan shared earlier today, this continent of 53 states and 1 billion people is brimming with potential. Up until the recent financial crisis, 18 non-oil exporting African economies were growing at an annual rate of 5.5% or more from increased investment, trade, and economic diversification. Africa’s natural resources could help offset global emissions and with proper agricultural investment, the continent’s 800 million hectares of unused, cultivable land could turn Africa into the breadbasket of the world.

Check back soon for more updates as the G20 swings into full gear tomorrow.

-Sydney Skov

All eyes are focused on New York right now, but in just a few days Pittsburgh will grab the global stage when heads of state from the world’s biggest economies show up for the G20 Summit. As most of you know, in addition to a variety of requests for follow-up from the G20 London Summit and the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, ONE is also calling for the G20 to agree to host an upcoming summit in Africa.

But why?

The obvious answer is that the African continent is made up of 53 states and nearly 1 billion people, so of course any discussion of the global economic recovery should be hosted in Africa at some point. Less obvious to many is the fact that when it comes to the economic crisis and other pressing global problems (like climate change and food security), Africa is part of the solution.

Take the economy. Until the financial crisis, 18 non-oil exporting African economies were growing individually at annual rate of 5.5% or more, the most sustained economic growth in decades. Increasing investment, trade and economic diversification were all part of this trend. This growth not only presented African countries with new opportunities to create jobs, increase exports and boost revenues, it also offered the world a new destination for investment and business. The same is true with the global economic recovery. Helping Africa get back on its feet after the financial crisis will reap benefits for the rest of the world. Research commissioned by ONE earlier this year showed that a $50 billion stimulus for long-term growth in sub-Saharan Africa would generate $250 billion of increased output and generate a 40% return for the investors in ten years time.

Climate and agriculture are other areas where Africa has a lot to offer. Preserving the continent’s vast natural resources, for example, could help offset global emissions. The forests of the Congo basin span 700,000 square miles, making it one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks. Africa’s potential for solar, geothermal and hydro-power provides new opportunities for private sector investments. And with greater investment in agriculture, Africa could one day serve as a global breadbasket and help to prevent the food shortages the world witnessed in 2008. Nearly two-thirds of Africa’s people are employed in agriculture, and some estimate that the continent is home to 800 million hectares of unused, cultivable land.

Much needs to be done to truly tap into Africa’s potential in a way that brings benefits to the rest of the global community- barriers to trade need to be removed, carbon markets need to be incentivized to invest in Africa and infrastructure needs to be strengthened so that the continent can attract more investment. But one easy way that the G20 can get the ball rolling is by announcing that it will host an upcoming summit on the continent. Doing so will signal that the G20 is sincere about bringing Africa to the table as these important global decisions are made and will force the rest of the world to take a closer look at what Africa has to offer.

Stay tuned here for more details on ONE’s recommendations around agriculture and climate change for the G20 in Pittsburgh.

-Nora Coghlan

The G20 Summit in Pittsburgh is fast approaching and ONE members are preparing a very special message for the occasion, calling on G20 leaders to hold one of their upcoming summits in Africa. 34,000 ONE members have already signed the petition asking the G20 to Go To Africa and see Africa’s potential to be a driving economic force of the 21st century for themselves.

We’ve just partnered with Moving the Lives of Kids Community Mural Project in Pittsburgh, an amazing community group that is painting a G20 message that will include our petition. It’s going to be an eye-grabbing, powerful presentation right in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, so we can be sure that the visiting dignitaries get the message. Stay tuned for more on the campaign, the mural, and the G20 summit.

-Aaron Banks

In anticipation of next week’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, ONE has taken to the streets to make sure all visiting world leaders and visitors will take notice of our message that Africa is part of the global economic recovery.

We’ve been blanketing storefronts, restaurants, bookstores and everywhere in between with posters that read “ONE World. ONE Recovery. Africa is Part of the Solution.” and featuring Morgana Wingard’s great design work. Special thanks to Nakturnal for the fantastic photos!

Meanwhile, in coffee shops all over the Pittsburgh area, we’ve been dropping of coffee sleeves with the same message on them. Take a look:

All of this is part of our larger effort to ask the G20 to hold the next Summit in Africa. Please lend your voice to this campaign here, and be sure to share it with your friends and family.

We’ll have more updates about the run-up to the G20 soon!

-Chris Scott

Senator Bill Frist, chairman of Save the Children’s Survive to 5 campaign, wrote this great op-ed in anticipation of next week’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA. The op-ed is a fantastic look at child mortality in the city of Pittsburgh and around the world.

We’ll have more on the G20 Summit soon, including some on the ground reports from Pittsburgh. Excerpts from Senator Frist’s op-ed below, full piece here.

When world leaders chart a course toward a more prosperous future at next week’s G-20 summit, Pittsburgh can inspire in more ways than one.

The city built on steel has renewed its shine as a center for research and technology and become a model for economic comeback. When this recession recedes, Pittsburgh is poised to jump far ahead of cities where “rust belt” still rings true.

But progress is not measured solely in economic terms. Presidents and prime ministers should note a different kind of progress that Pittsburgh pursued and achieved in the years it was still building its first boom. This kind of progress has yet to reach many parts of the planet, but, in the interests of all, must.

Sustainable recovery and long-term economic growth depend on improving the well-being of the world’s most vulnerable people and ensuring they, too, participate in recovery. To that end, improving the health of children and mothers is fundamental.

G-20 leaders also have a key opportunity to promote policies offering a healthy start to the world’s most vulnerable children. In L’Aquila, the eight leading industrialized nations took an important step in this direction. That summit’s official declaration recognized the importance of improving maternal, child and newborn health and how (90 years after Pittsburgh was told so) effective measures to prevent child deaths are proven and available now.

But world leaders passed on committing resources or introducing a mechanism to spur concrete action to help poor countries. Now it’s time they tell developing countries: If you produce a viable plan to reduce child deaths, we will not allow you to fail for lack of resources.

-Chris Scott

Trade ministers from rich and emerging nations are gathered in India for the second day of the two-day informal trade meeting, to make progress on the G20 commitment to conclude the Doha Development Agenda by the end of 2010. As the US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said before he left for India, this could be a “very important step” for their efforts to do so.

So are we finally close to a trade deal that would allow all countries, especially poor African countries, reap the benefits of trade, where they can work their way out of poverty as a result of new opportunities presented by the expansion of global trade? On the one hand, the economic crisis has renewed the political will for an early conclusion of the long-stalled Doha round and thus there is more scope today to achieve the “ambitious and balanced” WTO deal pledged in L’Aquila in July. On the other hand, we have heard these high-level Doha promises before-without any results.

If the Doha Development Round is to be completed by 2010, participants must ensure that the talks produce a deal that integrates poor African countries into the global trading system. Keeping Africa’s needs in the picture is the only way to achieve a truly global recovery — ONE recovery ONE world.

African countries continue to face multiple constraints to expanding trade. A Doha trade deal must effectively help African countries trade more among themselves and with the rest of the world. For a Doha deal to benefit Africa, it must include real reductions in agricultural subsidies in developed countries, improved market access for goods from African countries, a new financial commitment to aid-for-trade and allow countries to pursue trade policies that support development.

If this progress is not forthcoming through Doha, WTO members should develop a separate trade initiative for sub-Saharan Africa. This could be built on existing preference programmes such as the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the European Union’s Everything But Arms (EBA) programme. The package needs to be comprehensive, combining market access and effective trade capacity building. A sub-Saharan Africa wide programme would help prevent trade distortions between neighbouring African countries, and could promote regional trade.

The G-20leaders meeting in Pittsburgh later this month should consider how they could achieve harmonised and coordinated trade measures for Africa – this would go a long way towards achieving a Doha deal that really delivers for development.

-Mikiko Imai