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Statement made by the Spokesperson for the Presidency of the Republic, on the eve of the G8 Summit, taking place in Heiligendamm from 6 to 8 june 2007

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Paris, June 4th, 2007

This week President Sarkozy will be taking part in the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. The President is expecting a great deal from this meeting, attended not only by the leaders of the main industrialized countries, but also, because of the "broadened dialogue”, by those of the main emerging powers (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa) and the African founding members of NEPAD (South Africa, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt).

President Sarkozy will go to the G8 keen to focus more particularly on two issues:

AFRICA/DEVELOPMENT

The first is Africa's development, pursuing the action decided on by the G8. President Sarkozy also wants the European Union member States' pledge to increase their ODA [official development assistance] to 0.7% of their GDP by 2015 to be honoured. In 2006, French ODA reached 0.47% of GDP.

Africa's development also requires fulfilment of the commitments on access to treatment, and particularly universal access to AIDS-related prevention, care and treatment resources, decided on at Gleneagles.

DARFUR

President Sarkozy will also express his views on the Darfur tragedy. We can no longer resign ourselves to being powerless witnesses to the horror. The time for outrage is over and we must now act. History wouldn't forgive us for failing to react to the first crime against humanity of the twenty-first century. In Darfur, there is both a humanitarian and security emergency. The solution is political.

There is a humanitarian emergency, because the priority is firstly to secure access to the humanitarian aid. There is a security emergency, because we absolutely must strengthen the African Union force and get the UN-AU hybrid force deployed. But the solution to this conflict is political; this is why we must encourage the resumption of a negotiation process to obtain a peace agreement.

President Sarkozy has asked Bernard Kouchner to make some proposals on this and present them to him for decision before the G8.

GLOBAL WARMING

The second priority of this summit is the battle against global warming, which President Sarkozy has put at the heart of his presidential priorities. There is a European position on this. With our partners we have pledged to do the utmost to limit global warming to 2ºC by 2100 compared with pre-industrial times, which in the view of many experts is the maximum tolerable. This objective is ambitious, but it's necessary. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has assessed the rise in global temperature over the twentieth century as 0.7ºC and predicts that if nothing is done, it could be as high as 4ºC by 2100. So there are no grounds for revising our demands downwards.

President Bush's recent statements are a step forward which must be welcomed and seem to signal a genuine realization of the need to act. But there's a need to go further and we must encourage our American friends to take on board all the consequences of their initiative. First of all, by setting binding targets with figures and proposing a cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 50% from 1990 levels by 2050. Secondly, by agreeing to feed their initiative into the United Nations framework since we have to give universal legitimacy to this commitment, but also because we need to involve the southern countries in this, particularly in order to combat deforestation.

OTHER G8 TOPICS

Finally, France will also be very active on the other issues which will be at the heart of this G8's discussions: development of the southern countries, international trade, non-proliferation – particularly focusing on the Iranian and North Korean issues, counter terrorism and the discussions on the Middle East.

BILATERAL MEETINGS

The G8 summit will also give the President the opportunity for bilateral meetings with several of his peers:

• on 6 June, on his arrival, he will have a meeting with Mrs Merkel, to whom he will inter alia express his support for the goal of achieving an ambitious final declaration;
  
• afterwards the President will have a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Abe;
  
• on 7 June, he will be talking to Mr Blair and to Mr Putin;
  
• finally, on 8 June, he will not only talk at length to Mr Bush, but also to President Hu Jintao and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Singh. He will also have private conversations with the main African leaders.
  
• the President will also have had a meeting on 5 June, the day before the summit, with the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Harper (lunch), and Mexican President, Mr Calderón (dinner).
  

Finally, already before the Heiligendamm summit, President Sarkozy made a point of hearing some of the great voices defending great causes. He discussed Africa and the Millennium Development Goals with Bono and climate change with Mr Gore. In the morning of 5 June he will also be meeting representatives of over 30 NGOs working in the field of development, health, the fight against AIDS and the pandemics, and the environment, to get their views and tell them in what frame of mind he is approaching this G8 summit

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