G8 pledges $50 billion to Africa

[gldstwmn]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe....ap/index.html

Blair: 'It is a beginning, not an end'

Friday, July 8, 2005; Posted: 8:42 a.m. EDT (12:42 GMT)


GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday hailed the G8's $50 billion package for Africa and other agreements as "a beginning, not the end" of a new era in aid to the world's poorest nations.

Blair spoke at the end of this week's G8 summit in Scotland, a meeting overshadowed by Thursday's London terror attacks but which ended with defiant talk and pledges to address both poverty and climate change.

Terrorism "will not obscure what we came here to achieve. The purpose of terror is not only to kill, it is to put despair into people's hearts," Blair said.

"All of this does not change the world tomorrow. It is a beginning, not an end."

snip

Organizers of the Live-8 concerts and anti-poverty campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono arrived at the Gleneagles country club Friday for talks with French President Jacques Chirac.

The G8 leaders were expected to pledge to double aid to Africa by 2012, but leave out the numerical goal of increasing aid from the current $25 billion to $50 billion.