France prepares to host the G8 foreign ministers` meeting

France says it is ready for tough discussion on North African political crisis during the G8 foreign ministers` meeting in Paris on 14-15 March. More from the VOR`s Yelizaveta Isakova…

In January the French leader Nicolas Sarkozy outlined measures to cope with the financial crisis and the war on terrorism among the priorities of his country’s G8 and G20 presidency. But the announcement came exactly on the same day when protesters gathered at Cairo`s central Tahrir square to demand economic and political reforms in Egypt. It became clear at once that the G8 agenda would need some revision. The foreign ministers of France, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US and Japan are now expected to focus on the situation in North Africa, the Mideast crisis and the nuclear non-proliferation. These negotiations are also likely to help the participants understand whether the G8 format should continue to exist.

The crisis in North Africa turned out to be a serious challenge to international community. In view of this, the G8 still can do quite a lot on this front, Russian political analyst Mikhail Remizov thinks…

“Since we have been facing these challenges, it is the right time for the G8 to address these problems and try to achieve a kind of a compromise on them. They ought to take mutually-beneficial decisions that could also help the Arab world avoid new waves of unrest.”

However, Mr. Remizov believes that the G8 foreign ministers` meeting will hardly bring any breakthrough on these issues, with all major decisions to be made by the countries` leaders. His assumption is proved by Washington’s proposal to postpone the Mideast conference earlier planned to be held in Moscow this month. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he did not approve the decision to postpone the talks…

“This decision plays into the hands of extremists as they get more time to attract new members into their gangs. We do not believe that the ongoing crisis in North Africa and in the Middle East can somehow impede the negotiation process between Israel and the Autonomy. I think that we should speed up efforts to persuade the opposing sides sit down for talks.”

It is worth mentioning that the unrest in North Africa and in the Middle East has caused not only a change in the agendas of some international meetings. Some financial scandals linked to the Tunisian revolution resulted in replacement of French foreign minister, just a couple of weeks before the G8 meeting in Paris, where Japan will also be represented by the newly-appointed minister of foreign affairs.

 

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