***Nelson Mandela appropriately observed at the Johannesburg concert that "overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice. It is a protection of fundamental human rights." When the whole world is coming together we would love to believe that poverty will be history. If the G-8 leaders cannot hear the third world's cry, we can expect that they cannot ignore the millions and millions of voices all over the world.***

THIS Wednesday Gleneagles (in Scotland) hosted a significant and unique global event, the G-8 summit 2005. The summit will be attended not only by the leaders of the G-8 countries, but also by those from the major emerging economies (i.e. India, China, Brazil, and Mexico) and African nations. Targeting this summit, Sir Bob Geldof (Irish musician and activist) arranged the world's biggest musical concert in history, Live 8 in Hyde Park, London. A million people gathered on Saturday, not only in London, but also in Paris, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Johannesburg, Rome, and Barrie in Canada in the sister concerts. Half of the world watched it on TV.

Now the question arises, why a musical concert targeting a political and economic summit? And why the whole world is with the concert? What songs did they sing that bring the conflicting and divided world together? All this became possible because of the slogan of the concert: "Make Poverty History." The concert Live 8 was not only the greatest rock show in the world; it can claim political status as well.

This huge crowd in 10 countries was an attempt to convince the G-8 leaders prior to their summit that an awful lot of people want to help the third world countries. Their priority was Africa because it is the only region of the world that has become poorer in the last 30 years and its share in global trade has dropped by two-thirds in the past 25 years. Half of its people live on less than $1 a day and life expectancy is falling due to the serious threat of HIV. The "Make Poverty History" campaign has three objectives -- cancel national debt for the poor countries, double the aid to the third world, and ensure fair trade. Now the question is, if these objectives are fulfilled would poverty be history? And what is its relation with the G-8? Before searching for answer it is important to know about the purposes, goals, and importance of the G-8 summit.

The G-8 started its journey in 1975 through a gathering at Rambouillet, near Paris, and the problems were economic. That time it had only six members: the US, the UK, West Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. The six became seven when Canada joined one year later. For a few years, the Group of 7 stayed true to its original economic aims. However, this aim changed with the election of Roland Reagan. The US president, determined to counter the threat of the Soviet Union, saw the G-7 as a political as well as an economic powerhouse. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the G-7 looked east and turned its hand to economic regeneration. In turn, this lead to the admission of Russia as a full member at Birmingham in 1998.

The entrance of Russia reveals one of the summit's main features -the ability to change with the times, which makes it difficult to define the G-8. It is not a decision making body but a "conversation" among the rich nations. It has no constitution. Decision making procedure is

Plea to President Bush and PM Tony informal and compliance is voluntary. Its presidency changes every year and there is no fixed manifesto. According to Nicholas Bayne, former British diplomat and author of Staying Together: the G-8 Summit Confronts the 21st Century, "Only intractable international problems, which cannot be settled at lower levels, come up to the summit." So the G-8's main job is to deal with global issues that cannot be solved through other institutions. Though critics might query the solutions, there is no doubting that the G-8's desire to tackle international blights such as world poverty and Aids. These are some of today's intractable problems and great faith is put in informality to get results.

Although the G-8 leaders are honestly talking about world problems, there are lots of criticisms against them. It is clear that there are some ideas which find favour with the Americans and not the Europeans, and some which find favour with the Europeans and not the Americans. The problems also lie in trying to please two audiences -- the domestic and the global. Who comes first: the African farmers or the French ones? The US oil producer or the UK green lobby? Critics wonder if the G-8 will ever be able to reconcile such clashing interests. However, in an increasingly interdependent world, the value of the G-8 lies in its personal quality. It brings together the leaders of eight of the world's most powerful nations and reminds them of their responsibility to cooperate internationally, rather than acting unilaterally or giving away to domestic pressures. In this year the G-

Blair.

8's main two priorities will be the poverty in Africa and the impact of the fast changing climate on our world, now and in future years.

The whole world has lot of expectation from this summit. Although the United Nations is the proper forum for collective action on poverty, the G-8 consists of the world's richest and most powerful countries which have the strength to make a difference. These countries' good intentions can facilitate achievement of millennium development goals (MDGs) to establish "intra-generational equity" and sustainable development. The G-8 leaders already agreed on the first two objectives of the "Make Poverty History" campaign. UK Chancellor Gordon Brown's "Marshall Plan for Africa," set out in early June contain 100 percent debt relief for the world's poorest countries, mainly in Africa, worth an estimated $15 billion over the next 10 years. It also contained a direct increasing aid, with Europe aiming to reach the UN target of 0.7 percent of gross national income (GNI) by 2015, and doubling aid from $40 billion to $80 billion by 2010.

But they did not agree on the fair trade issue to provide African countries' the same access conditions to the developed countries in the world trade market. Aid can mitigate some immediate needs, but cannot eradicate poverty and is criticised for encouraging corruption. On the other hand, cancelling national debt may encourage taking more debt. In such a situation, it is important to reform the international trading system to enable Africa to participate effectively in

international trade and investment which can ensure a stable development and prosperity. The push for "more and better aid" will not transform African countries into economic powerhouses. The real freedom from poverty can come to African people through economic development which is possible by the support of the G-8 leaders.

Five years ago, all the world's governments came together to adopt the Millennium Declaration, seen as a blueprint for building a better world in the 21st century for reducing poverty and improving living conditions. That landmark document captured the aspirations of the international community to achieve peace through decent standards of living for everyone. And the success of the Live 8 concert boasted Kofi Annan's confidence that "a better world is possible." The concert is a call for justice, the empowerment of the powerless and the poor. Nelson Mandela appropriately observed at the Johannesburg concert that "overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity; it is an act of justice. It is a protection of fundamental human rights." When the whole world is coming together we would love to believe that poverty will be history. If the G-8 leaders cannot hear the third world's cry, we can expect that they cannot ignore the millions and millions of voices all over the world.

Amran Hossain is an Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Dhaka and Farjina Khanum is an Advocate, Dhaka Bar. Both are pursuing further studies at the University of Sheffield.