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Bush won't endorse Blair's plan for aid
George Bush has dug in his heels ahead of Tony Blair's visit to Washington on Monday, when the prime minister will attempt to convince the US to accept a new action plan on Africa that would require a doubling of American aid. Speaking to reporters at a meeting with the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, Mr Bush made it clear he would not drop his opposition to a British plan to create an International Financing Facility (IFF) for Africa to mobilise more foreign aid. "We have made our position pretty clear on that, that it doesn't fit our budgetary process," Mr Bush said, referring to limitations on Congress entering into long-term financial commitments. US officials have rejected British attempts to convince them to make an exception for African aid.The president also signalled on Wednesday that he believed the leadership of the G8 group of industrialised countries was already moving in the right direction on African aid, and the policy did not need overhauling at July's Gleneagles summit. Both the US and Britain agree there should be some relief of Africa's World Bank debts, but differ on how it should be financed. Gordon Brown and Mr Blair argue that rich countries should pick up the debt servicing bill. The Bush administration wants the cost to be taken out of direct aid budgets, with the consequence that recipient states do not receive any more funds.
Aid experts suggest there may be room for compromise when Mr Blair arrives in Washington to drum up support for implementing the findings of his Commission for Africa report. But there are profound differences between London and Washington. John Williamson, an aid expert at the Institute for International Economics said: "It was a wild hope that the Bush people would get enthusiastic about that. In a sense, Europe is a more hopeful route." Unlike Mr Blair, the Bush administration does not believe increasing aid budgets will do any good without fundamental political reform and the eradication of corruption.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-03 |
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