Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the leading role of the West is coming to an end, and no serious international group makes much sense anymore without economic juggernauts like China and India.
Putin shared his thoughts on the Group of Seven (G7) during the Eastern Economic Forum, held outside Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Thursday. He was asked whether he would attend the group’s meeting in the US next year if invited. US President Donald Trump said last month he will “certainly” invite Putin.
The Russian president hinted that G7 leaders should instead travel to Russia where the last G8 event was due to take place, in 2014, prior to Moscow’s expulsion from the group....
RT
‘West’s leading role is ending’: G7’s no good without India and China, Putin says
G8 leaders on Saturday pledged to lift millions of Africans out of poverty by promoting investments in sustainable agriculture.
“Today we commit to launch a New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to accelerate the flow of private capital to African agriculture, take to scale new technologies and other innovations that can increase sustainable agricultural productivity, and reduce the risk borne by vulnerable economies and communities,” the Group of Eight major industrial nations said.
“This New Alliance will lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next decade.”
The ambitious announcement, contained in a final communique released after a high-profile gathering on a range of topics, came a day after President Barack Obama reached out to the private sector for financial support for the cause.
The initiative also comes as pledges expire from 2009 in L’Aquila, Italy, where the G8 promised more than $20 billion over three years to improve food access to Africans and others hit by the high prices and a global slowdown.
Civil society observers appeared skeptical about the endeavor’s success.
“The G8 have offered warm words on food security but have failed to make a specific pledge to simply maintain L’Aquila level financial commitments going forward,” said Katie Campbell, senior policy analyst for ActionAid USA. “In failing to deliver this, they have turned their backs on the women smallholder farmers who are so vital to food security in Africa.”
Oxfam claimed that input from those directly concerned had not been taken into consideration.
“Poor countries have presented the G8 country-led, sustainable, and coordinated plans for food security and agricultural development, but today the G8 gave them the cold shoulder,” Lamine Ndiaye, the group’s Pan Africa Head of Economic Justice, said in a statement.
Read it at Raw Story
G8 pledges to lift 50 million Africans out of poverty
by Agence Presse-France
