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No water from Evian but African leaders plane tickets reimbursed.
The Evian summit, that exclusive club meeting of the worlds richest countries, which addresses sustainable development issues not only for the G8 countries present but for the rest of the world, terminated yesterday.
“It’s all been a great success...’” declared the host, President Jacques Chirac with typical optimism. “I think Evian will go down in history... a turning point for the world, and especially for Africa.”
Hopes were high. France talked of voting measures to provide drinkable water to the entire world population by 2008. An African delegation, invited for the first time ever by the French president, hoped for the right to manufacture generic drugs to treat aids and for cancellation of all or part of the crippling third world debt. Various British NGOs (non governmental organizations) were asking for an effort to wipe out polio.
“In the end, these summits can’t do everything.” World bank representative Joel Richy told BIGfib. “Africa came along with a lot of requests... the fact that they were here, that we actually let them in is progress enough... it’s a huge leap... the first time that any coloured gentlemen... is that what we call them now? Anyway, it's the first time any have been let in...”
So did the African leaders get what they were hoping for? BIGfib asked British premier Tony Blair.
“Yes, I think they were very happy, decisions were taken. We decided to carry on letting them buy aids therapies at standard prices from the US corporations who own the patents, and the US government agreed to give them some hard cash to help them carry on doing that...”
So what about water aid, third world debt, polio and malaria vaccination programs and malnutrition which alone kills 7 million children a year?
"Well and there was no commitment made on those other, supplementary requests... But these aren’t cheap measures... wiping out polio world-wide for example would cost almost $180 million..." Blair told BIGfib.
Some African sources were saying that as far as they were concerned the Evian summit, which cost an estimated $245 million, was simply a waste of money, but George Bush speaking at the closing press conference brushed this off.
“That’s simply not fair...” He told the closing press conference. “They came, they were well fed while they were here, they left unharmed and Chirac even reimbursed their plane tickets... I’d say they had a real good time.”
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