MDG 8 remains elusive for Africa

In September 2000, the largest-ever gathering of Heads of State ushered in the new millennium by adopting the UN Millennium Declaration. The Declaration, endorsed by 189 countries, was then translated into a roadmap setting out goals, commonly referred to as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be reached by 2015.
Millennium Development Goal (MDG) #8 focuses on the power and potential of co-operation between international organisations, governments, pharmaceutical companies, the private sector, and developing countries to help people access what they need - through fair and equitable market access and debt sustainability efforts, youth employment opportunities, and increased access to affordable essential drugs such as antiretrovirals (ARVs) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as telephones and personal computers.
The goal’s essence is to establish a global agreement for development between the poor and rich countries. The former should be responsible, above all, for the improvement of democratic governance and management of aid funds. The latter, in turn, should be obliged to increase the aid and to aim it at achieving the MDGs. They also should solve the problem of heavy indebtedness of the developing countries and should create a favourable environment for them to develop, e.g. by making the access to modern technologies easier for them. Whereas trade barriers and subsidizing of domestic agriculture in highly developed countries have been considerably reduced in the recent years, they remain a serious obstacle in the development of trade with developing countries.
The goal’s key targets are:
· Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system and deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries.
· Address the least developed countries’ special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction.
· Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term.
· In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
· In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies—especially information and communications technologies.
But according to Eurizons, a group of 50 young Europeans from 11 European countries campaining among their countries to help LDCs achieve their MDGs, the reality on the ground is harsh. According to the lobby group,
· Every year Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region of the world, spends $14.5 billion repaying debts to the world's rich countries and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
· The money spent on debt repayments could provide water for around 1.3 billion people.
Well developed countries assign $ 68 billion a year for the development of the poorer countries, $300 billion a year for the subsidizing of their agriculture, and $100 billion a year to protect their markets with tariffs, quotas and subsidies.
· The United Nations estimates that unfair trade rules deny poor countries $700 billion every year. Less than 0.01% of this could save the sight of 30 million people.
· The average cow in the EU receives more than $2 a day in subsidies, whilst more than 3 billion people in developing countries are struggling to survive on less than this.
· The EU gives $86.8 billion a year to its farmers in subsidies. Just $5 billion could help give everyone in the world access to safe water and sanitation.
· On average, coffee farmers are getting $1 a kilogram while consumers are paying about $15 - a mark up of 1500%.
· In 1970, 22 of the world's richest countries pledged to spend 0.7% of their national income on aid. 34 years later, only 5 countries have kept that promise.