GERMANY: Kofi Annan and Bob Geldof introduce the Africa Progress Panel to monitor pledges made to Africa

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Bob Geldof introduced the Africa Progress Panel in Berlin on Tuesday (April 24), which has been set up to monitor world leaders' pledges to Africa. Annan and Geldof were joined by Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International and Michel Camdessus, former director of International Monetary Fund. "The African panel has come together with the sole purpose of assisting and working with the governments, both Africans and here, to ensure that we achieve the millennium development goals and that we work together with them to honour these commitments," Annan told journalists. The panel's objective is to continually check the progress of pledges made at the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2006 for an extra 27.5 billion pounds (55 million US dollars) in aid for developing countries by 2010. The panel will also ensure the promise of cancelling debt for the world's poorest countries. "It's a small price", Geldof said. "It's a small price for political credibility, it's a small price for living up to your promise to your own constituency and most importantly, it's a small price for people to go to school and not to die of AIDS this year. It's a very small price." The independent panel will annually report to the United Nations and the G8 as well as the Africa Partnership Forum. It is being funded by Microsoft-founder Bill Gates. Annan, Geldof, Eigen and Camdessus are scheduled to meet with German chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Tony Blair later on Tuesday.

ITN Source | May 2, 2007

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