For the first time ever, Development and Finance Ministers from the G20 congregated last Friday September 23 in Washington, DC. The objective: underlining the need to address development challenges as part of the global economic agenda. Since the beginning of the G20 presidency by France, President Nicolas Sarkozy committed to making development one of his top priorities, and this G20 Development meeting is a strong sign for it. The G20’s pledge to work together to find solutions to key development issues demonstrates their willingness to meet this challenge head-on, but does this really mark the beginning of successful joint efforts?

The ministers have paid particular attention on two priorities, infrastructure and food security, taking up some recommendations made by ONE in the past. In addition, ministers addressed topics such as innovative finance for development, transparency in the extractive industry, trade and social protection. Although the ministerial recommendations are well-placed and are encouraging on many issues, ONE noted that no action was taken:

“The presence of the Finance ministers, side by side with the Development ministers, was a strong sign giving us hope that immediate action would be taken. There is still over a month left until the G20 summit in Cannes and we sincerely hope that the positive signal sent from Washington on Friday will ensure that Development gets a place on the top of the G20 agenda alongside other burning issues. The current crisis in the Horn of Africa shows us the urgency of the situation.”

Despite the fact that the Horn of Africa is amid what has been called the ‘‘worst humanitarian crisis of 2011,’’ the G20 are choosing to wait until their summit in Cannes before taking any actions.

Mere recommendations, as good as they may be, are not enough. With the upcoming G20 Finance meeting in mid-October and the G20 summit in early November, ONE will continue to remind the G20 that the world’s poorest need to see action not just another high-level meeting.

This campaign received a big boost on the weekend with the publication of a letter from President Sarkozy of France to ONE co-founder Bono announcing that he was prepared to show leadership on the issue. Bono had previously written an op-ed for Le Monde calling for exactly that.

The English text of the letter says:

“In your article, you bring up the need for transparency in the area of natural resources’ extraction in Africa. I completely agree with you. France is organising an experts’ conference on this issue in March in Paris. As of now, I have decided to ask the European Union to adopt, as speedily as possible, legislation to compel industries in the extractive sector to disclose their payments to all countries in which they operate.”

So congratulations to President Sarkozy and his team for championing such an important issue. Transparency campaigners across Africa will now be looking to you to carry this forward – and ensure that the wave of transparency reform does not lose momentum.

Tough meeting with the Président de la République of France. He’s a tough guy. We like tough guys because they get straight down to business. They don’t waste their time or yours. The French budget is out this Friday and in it we will see if France intends continuing its leadership role on the continent of Africa. In the last few years, French aid has been falling.

My point was that as much as Africa needs French aid and the energy that Sarkozy himself provides, he/we need Africa. Why? Africa has never been so strategically important as it is now, economically and politically. Just ask…

Read the full post here.

-Virginia Simmons