For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 10, 2004
Chair's Summary
We met at Sea Island for our annual Summit to advance freedom by
strengthening international cooperation to make the world both safer
and better.
Leaders from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen,
and Turkey joined us at Sea Island.
We welcomed the unanimous approval of U. N. Security Council
Resolution 1546 on Iraq. We stand together united in our support for
the Iraqi people and the fully sovereign Iraqi Interim Government as
they seek to rebuild their nation.
In our discussion of the Broader Middle East and North Africa, we
welcomed statements from the region on the need for reform. As the
leaders of the major industrialized democracies in the world, we
recognize our special responsibility to support freedom and reform, and
therefore we committed to:
* Forge a historic Partnership for Progress and a Common
Future with the governments and peoples of the Broader Middle East and
North Africa.
* Establish together with our partners a Forum for the
Future, which will root our efforts in an enduring dialogue in support
of the region's reform efforts. The first meeting of the Forum will be
held later this year.
* Adopt a G-8 Plan of Support for Reform, which commits us to
intensify and, in partnership with the region, expand our already
strong individual and collective engagements, and launch new
initiatives to support: democracy, literacy,
entrepreneurship/vocational training, microfinance, and small business
financing, among other things.
Our support for reform in the region will go hand in hand with our
support for a just, comprehensive, and lasting settlement to the Arab -
Israeli conflict. We called upon the Quartet to meet in the region
before the end of the month to restore momentum on the Roadmap.
At Evian, we recognized the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and their delivery systems, together with international
terrorism, as the pre-eminent threat to international peace and
security. Determined to prevent, contain, and roll back proliferation,
we adopted a G-8 Action Plan on Nonproliferation to reinforce the
global nonproliferation regime. This Action Plan enhances and expands
ongoing efforts, such as the Proliferation Security Initiative, which
now includes all G-8 members, and the G-8 Global Partnership Against
the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. The Action
Plan addresses transfers of enrichment and reprocessing equipment and
technologies, and takes steps to strengthen the International Atomic
Energy Agency and to counter bioterrorism. The Action Plan calls on
all states to implement the recently passed U.N. Security Council
Resolution 1540, and addresses the proliferation challenges in North
Korea, Iran, and Libya.
International terrorism poses a direct challenge to global security
and prosperity. We agreed to enhance our counterterrorism efforts by
launching the Secure and Facilitated International Travel Initiative
(SAFTI) to improve the security and efficiency of air, land, and sea
travel. We agreed to new measures to destroy excess stockpiles of
Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) and to prevent their
proliferation.
We welcomed the increasing strength of the global economy. We
agreed it was important to take advantage of the strong global economic
environment to implement further reforms to accelerate growth in our
countries. We noted the recent pledge by oil producers to increase
production. We recognized the need for balanced energy policies, which
increase energy supplies and encourage more efficient energy use and
conservation, including through new technologies.
We recognized that we face a moment of strategic economic
opportunity: by combining the upturn in global growth with a worldwide
reduction of barriers to trade, we can deepen, broaden, and extend this
economic expansion. Therefore, we directed our ministers, and called
on all WTO members, to finalize the frameworks by July to put the WTO
negotiations back on track so that we can expeditiously complete the
Doha Development Agenda. We welcomed recent progress toward Russia's
accession to the WTO. We also recognized the need to fight
counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property.
The challenges faced by Africa, including armed conflict, HIV/AIDS,
famine, and poverty, represent a compelling call for international
cooperation to support the continent's efforts to achieve lasting
progress. We met with the Presidents of Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria,
Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda, and we committed to:
* Launch a G-8 Action Plan on Expanding Global Capability for
Peace Support Operations;
* Adopt a G-8 Action Plan on Applying the Power of
Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of Poverty;
* Endorse and establish a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise to
accelerate HIV vaccine development. The United States will host later
this year a meeting of all interested stakeholders in the Enterprise;
* Take all necessary steps to eradicate polio by 2005 and
close the funding gap by our next Summit. We have already closed the
funding gap for 2004;
* Launch a new initiative on Ending the Cycle of Famine in
the Horn of Africa, Raising Agricultural Productivity, and Promoting
Rural Development in Food Insecure Countries; and
* Reaffirm our commitment to fully implementing and financing
the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. We issued a
separate statement on HIPC.
Sustainable development requires international cooperation and
action on improving our environment. We endorsed the Reduce, Reuse,
and Recycle ("3 R's") Initiative.
We supported progress in the multilateral effort against corruption
and welcomed the completion of Comprehensive Anti-Corruption Compacts
with Georgia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Peru. We noted the role
information technology can play in promoting transparency.
We also discussed regional challenges, including:
* Afghanistan: We agreed on the need for international
support for upcoming Afghan elections and counternarcotics efforts.
* Gaza Withdrawal/Middle East Peace: We issued a separate
statement on Gaza Withdrawal and the Road Ahead to Middle East Peace.
* Haiti: We discussed how to meet Haiti's urgent needs for
budget support, electricity, and police, and called on all donors to do
their utmost to provide support at the July donors' conference and to
effect a sustainable future for this country.
* North Korea: We addressed the DPRK nuclear issue in our
G-8 Action Plan on Nonproliferation. We support the Six-Party Talks as
well as efforts by all concerned parties to achieve a comprehensive
solution by diplomatic means to the DPRK nuclear issue and to other
security and humanitarian issues, such as the abductions.
* Sudan: We issued a separate statement on Sudan.
We welcomed the offer of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
to host our next Summit in 2005.
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