G8 nations promised to mobilise 20 billion USD to help fight world poverty at the end of their three-day summit on July 10 in L’Aquila , Italy .
It had been expected that world leaders would promise 15 billion USD to help poor countries promote sustainable agriculture development in the fight against hunger. The final amount was 5 billion USD more.
The decision came at the meeting on food security the same day between leaders of the wealthy nations that compose the Group of Eight and 19 partner countries.
The impact of the global economic crisis on the African continent and food security topped the agenda for the final day of the summit. In the first two days, the summit focused on the ongoing international financial crisis and the global fight against climate change.
The US is expected to contribute 3.2 billion USD, while France and Japan are likely to donate 2 and 3-4 billion USD respectively.
The money will be used to supply credit and technology to farmers in developing countries as well as to help bring them greater access to export markets.
Humanitarian organisations operating in poort countries, however, are not impressed by the pledged amount, saying it is not sufficient to help the 1 billion people currently living in hunger. They called on the G8 to take stronger actions at the next summit in Canada./.