4 July 2006
The PM gave an interview to BBC Newsround about how much progress had been made in helping Africa.
Parts of this transcript may have been edited
Read the transcript
Interviewer:
Prime Minister, you have heard what the children had to say, they are very passionate about it. Will it actually make a difference, do you think, seriously?
Prime Minister:
Yes, there is no doubt that one of the reasons why we got so much agreement last year, and despite what people sometimes think a lot has happened in the last year, was as a result of that agreement at Gleneagles. One of the reasons we were able to do this was because of the passion shown by children and by their parents and by others within society who were saying: "Look, don’t do this, we are supporting you in it." Because for every government, like our government, that says we are going to spend this money on educating poor kids in Africa, there will be someone who says: "Well is that really the priority? Maybe we should be spending it somewhere else." So to know that you have got the support for action on world poverty, and particularly poverty in Africa, is very, very important.
Interviewer:
You are talking about support. Last year kids were wearing white wrist bands, they all were involved with Live 8. Are you satisfied with what came out of the big G8 conference last year?
Prime Minister:
You are never satisfied fully with anything in this business, but we got massive progress on debt, on tackling the killer diseases like HIV-Aids, and malaria, and TB and so on, we got real progress on aid, a doubling of aid, and there are countries like our own that have then stepped up to the mark and followed through on it. We need to do a lot more on trade, but there is always going to be more to do. We need to do more on conflict resolution and the way African countries are governed as well because that is an important part of the picture. But yes I think last year’s summit was the first time the world community really focused on Africa in that way and for all the disappointments there will always be, a lot was done.
Interviewer:
Now what message will you be taking from what the children have been saying to you today to the next G8 conference later this month?
Prime Minister:
My message to my fellow leaders will be listen to what the children are saying, this is the same passion they showed last year, they have still got it this year, and we should therefore show the same commitment we had last year again this year and in the years to come. You are never going to cure the problems of Africa in a year, it is a situation that needs sorting out over a generation, but if you don’t keep the sense of urgency and passion there the whole time well you will never do it.
Interviewer:
So what kind of timeframe are you aiming at to try and sort out the majority of the problems that Africa has?
Prime Minister:
We have given commitments on the doubling of aid over the next few years, on for example near universal treatment on HIV-Aids by 2010, there are the Millennium Development Goals which are the basic things we are trying to do on things like education which we want to see achieved by 2015. So there are reasonably optimistic, indeed challenging timelines on all of this stuff, but it all requires the international community every single time to keep stepping up to the mark and making it happen.
Interview:
So what would you regard as a success from this year’s G8 conference with the other world leaders?
Prime Minister:
I think because there are a lot of other issues that are going on at the same time, I think the best that we can realistically hope for - but which I want to make sure that this happens - is that Africa is on the agenda again at the summit, that we mark the progress there has been and we re-commit to all those things that we committed ourselves to last year. I think that is what we need to aim for this year. I hope very much that the German government who has got the G8 for next year will also make this a major centrepiece of their agenda too.
Interviewer:
OK, and just a couple of other things. Every kind of leader in the world, obviously there is lots of speculation about how long they will remain as a leader, who do you think should replace David Beckham as England Captain?
Prime Minister:
You know there are some decisions I have to take, and there are some decisions I don’t. This one is for the new England manager and I am sure he has got a good group of people to choose from. But I don’t think it wouldn’t be right to discuss it without paying real tribute to David’s leadership and to his captaincy which I think has been very, very considerable and inspiring over the years.
Interviewer:
I don’t know if you have watched Doctor Who. We have got daleks versus cyberman at the end of the series this time round, who do you think should win out of those two?
Prime Minister:
Oh blimey, don’t get me into that. You had better ask my kids.
delicious
digg
facebook
