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G8: 2005 Summit

My Lords, the whole House will be grateful to the Minister for repeating the Statement. A few weeks ago we were told that this was to be a summit of historic dimensions. The fact that it was relegated to the inner pages may have been the result of an appalling tragedy, but it may also prove to be a more realistic assessment of the outcome. The Prime Minister is to be congratulated on his energy, and we welcome some of the modest conclusions, but the summit fell far short of addressing the real issues that need to be addressed. I increasingly sense that there is a tendency to think in tramlines on this issue, when there is a growing cause for an urgent reappraisal of our approaches, from renewed investment in nuclear power to the advancement of carbon-free technologies and, as the US Government have rightly argued, growing investment in cleaner use of existing technologies. On climate change, there is perhaps more room for debate than the zealots on both sides admit. The noble Lord, Lord May, said the summit was a ““disappointing failure””. With respect, I do not agree with him, but, on the other hand, I cannot agree with the over-hyped response of some of the government briefing, that the conference was a triumph. Has the Minister had an opportunity to see the outstanding report by the Economic Affairs Committee on the economics of climate change? Its conclusions are blunt, original and compelling. I hope she can find time to schedule a full government response and a debate on this report before the next discussion on climate change by the G8 and its associate forums. What is the Government’s policy on nuclear power? Is it true that even the Prime Minister’s strategy adviser, the noble Lord, Lord Birt, is urging renewed commitment to this technology? While on nuclear power, what was the G8’s latest assessment of the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, and what new action was agreed? On parts of the summit concerning Africa, I warmly welcome the commitment to action on malaria and HIV/AIDS. Is there any question of renewing the use of DDT in the fight against malaria? I note the further pledges on aid and debt relief. They answered a widespread call, are well-intentioned and may well assist many. But how can we ensure that debt relief and aid will benefit the African people and not corrupt regimes? What monitoring will be done, and by whom? Will this and other initiatives be limited to Africa? Do the Government consider that there is a comparable problem of poverty in parts of Asia and Latin America? I was less pleased with those aspects of the communiqué that covered free trade. That is surely a major part of the solution to the difficulties of Africa and   indeed parts of Latin America. Subsidies and protectionism by the developed world to protect the developed world have no place in any rational programme to help Africa, as the Prime Minister appeared to be recognising. Yet the commitments in the conclusions are thin gruel indeed. What is the so-called ““credible end date”” by which trade and agricultural goods will be opened, as pledged in the communiqué? Did the Prime Minister take his campaign against the CAP into that wider forum, and was President Chirac isolated in those talks? I welcome the common reaffirmation by the African leaders to strengthen democratic institutions and to pursue a policy of zero tolerance of corruption. I wonder whether that includes the corrupt dictatorship of Mr   Mugabe. President Mbeki was there. What specific actions did he pledge against Mugabe? Did they include the freezing of the movement of assets by Mugabe’s henchmen? The noble Baroness will no doubt have   shared my astonishment that the communiqué even mentioned Zimbabwe. This is nearly the twentieth Statement that I have taken following an EU or G8 Summit and called for action on the Zimbabwe tyranny. Finally, we have a few words calling on the Zimbabwean authorities, as the communiqué puts it, to address the situation that they have created. We are long past the days when any faith can be put in the Zimbabwean authorities to address any misery. This is an African disaster and Africa must assist in finding the solution. The recent tragic history of parts of Africa has all too much to do with bad government, wickedness and the   exploitation of African by African. In the last generations, the giant populations of the Indian subcontinent and of China have been steadily lifted from poverty by their own exertions, by stable government, and by peace. Africa needs able leadership in politics, public service, the professions and health, whereas far too many people are being drawn away to careers in other continents. We must sustain that leadership wherever it is given and challenge it wherever it is wanting. That will want clear-headedness as well as idealism inside Africa and outside. We must not fail in that task.