PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has been formally invited to attend this year’s G-8 Summit of the world’s industrial nations holding in Italy.
Next month’s meeting, holding from July 8 to 10, 2009 at L’Aquila will be the third since President Yar’Adua was sworn in on May 29, 2007 and the first he is being invited to attend.
In the last two summits, the G-8 organisers had invited only “the stable and structured” emerging economies – China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Egypt was also invited to represent the Arab, Muslim and, ironically, the whole African world.
The non-invitation of the President to the last meeting had attracted wide criticisms and commentaries from Nigerians at home and abroad, who said that the world leaders might have turned their backs on Nigeria following its problematic record in democratic governance.
Some critics had concluded that the troubled mandate of the President, resulting from the dispute over the 2007 elections that brought Yar’Adua to power might have been responsible for the non-invitation of the President.
The matter had been worsened with the resolve of President Barack Obama of the United States to leave out Nigeria in his scheduled Africa tour in July.
In a letter conveying the invitation of Yar’Adua to the summit and addressed to the Nigerian Ambassador to Italy, Prince Ehineden Erediuwa, the Personal Representative of the President of the Italian Council of Ministers for Africa, Mr. Luca Riccardi, said Yar’Adua was being invited because President Silvio Berlusconi was personally committed to renewing ties between the G-8 and Africa, especially with Nigeria.
According to the letter dated June 12, Riccardi stated that Prime Minister Berlusconi “has directed me in the quality of his personal representative to go to His Excellency’s country to personally deliver to the President of the Republic, Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua, the invitation to participate at the next G-8 meeting that will take place at L’Aquila the 8th, 9th and 10th July. As Your Excellency knows, President Berlusconi is personally committed to renew ties with the G-8 and Africa, especially with His Excellency’s country”.
Riccardi is expected to arrive in Abuja Tuesday to deliver the letter to President Yar’Adua. He is expected to depart Abuja two days after arrival.
The Italian envoy is to be accompanied to Nigeria by the Vice Personal Representative of the President of the Council of Ministers, Dr Murekatete Liliane.
Since Mr. Berlusconi kicked off Italy’s G8 Presidency year, he has pledged to place development in Africa and the emerging countries at the very heart of his G8 agenda. In addition, he has aimed to involve the body in the debate on such issues as security, the environment, energy, food security and infrastructure.
In February this year, Foreign Minister Frattini, in the course of an official visit to a number of African countries, stressed these postures. In addition, at an Infrastructure Consortium for Africa-ICA meeting held on March 10 and 11, the focus was on the impact of the global financial crisis on the development of infrastructure in Africa. Italy proposed introducing financial mechanisms designed to facilitate greater private investment. The proposal is also going to be submitted to the Summit of L’Aquila in July.
Prime Minister Berlusconi has also highlighted the fact that it is necessary to define common ethical and legal standards and new rules governing the transparency, propriety and integrity of international economic and financial activity at this time of global economic difficulty._
Following Italy’s proposal, the principal economy and economic institutions at world level leaders met in London for the G20 on April 2, accepted the final document by highlighting the social crisis and they commit themselves to sustaining the people with new job opportunities and welfare.
_ During their June 15 meeting in Washington, Prime Minister Berlusconi and U.S. President, Barack Obama, went through the agenda for the upcoming G8 Summit in L’Aquila point-by-point, focusing in particular on rules and principles for addressing the international economic crisis.
Prime Minister Berlusconi voiced the hope that the eight major countries’ meeting in L’Aquila would impart fresh thrust to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, known as the Doha Round.
The meeting was originally scheduled to hold in the Italian city of La Maddalena but was relocated to L’Aquila as a token of consideration and support for the communities hit by the April 6 earthquake.