Thursday, May 31, 2007

Alternative perspectives on G8 Summit

Day two in Rostock has gone off reasonably well...there's a sizeable team from Latin America and there are three people from Africa...as of now, I'm the only one from Asia! the biggest continent in the world and there's only me, i can't bear the responsibility :)
Well, you know all this hype about the G8 Summit and I don't think i can even come close to the Summit in Heiligendamm, because the authorities have erected a hige fence to keep out people who don't have any 'business' here...apparently the polizei here have even resorted to tactics like scent tracking to keep trouble mongers out and to identify people who can potentially mean trouble...
as of now the main issues of this summit here seem to be
economic growth and sustainability on a balanced and equitable basis.
debt cancellation and fighting AIDS in Africa
Overall increase of aid for developing countries...which was promised in Gleneagles, Scotland as well in 2005, but very little done...
Agriculture remains a major point of discussions because despite repeated efforts, most developed countries have NOT reduced subsidies and free market remains free to farmers only from some countries...the G4 will remain under scrutiny as they are the outreach countries for the G8 this time and they have traditionally been the main opposition to the developed countries in all the WTO and related trade meetings...
Of course, the biggest zinger remains, energy and sustainable use of resources, what with summers becoming hotter the world around and paranoic reports about global warming coming in from the world over...
Germany, presiding over the EU and hosting the Summit, has ambitious plans to come to a resolution at this Summit, but it is unlikely that any resolution will take place...
USA refuses to ratify the Kyoto protocol and of course India and China are not required to reduce GHG emissions as part of this Protocol...
India and China, like the US have adopted independent mechanisms to resolve and reduce emissions in their respective countries, and no amicable resolution is expected to happen during this summit.
Major points in this Summit also include conflicts in Kosovo, Darfur and the middle East skirmishes...
Tomorrow morning, at 9 am, a press conference is being held by protestors who have gathered in Rostock...and an action day has been marked each day, for example on agriculture, on migration, on debt cancellation etc...
Whether, the G8 group actually notices the existence of the protests remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, the Federal Republic of Germany is surely nervous about the other side, to deploy more than 16, 000 police troops in the area....the largest in a long time, spurring further mobilization in Rostock!