PARIS (CP) - Nothing will derail the industrialized world in its push to find a new development package for Africa at next month's G-8 summit, not even a terrorist strike, Prime Minister Jean Chretien promised Monday.
"Too often we have been at these meetings and suddenly something arrives and hijacks, more or less, the meeting and I will not permit that," he told a news conference at the Canadian Embassy after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.
With international terrorism also on the agenda for the June 26-27 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., it is inevitable that the matter will be discussed, Chretien said, and leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized countries would set aside time to discuss events happening outside their meeting.
"If there is some urgency in the meeting, we will take some time to discuss that, but not to exclude the African file," he added.
Chretien issued his guarantee after meeting with Chirac against the backdrop of the funerals on Monday for 11 French engineers killed last week in Karachi, Pakistan, by a suicide bomber.
Chretien said he offered his condolences to Chirac when they met at the Palais de l'Elysee, the residence of the French president.
"I share the preoccupation that we all have with this terrible disease that affects so many societies," he said.
Chretien, who became the first foreign leader to meet with Chirac since his re-election victory, later met with newly appointed French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
The French president also appealed to Canada to ratify the Kyoto protocol that requires nations to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Chretien is touring European capitals to lay the groundwork for the summit meeting.
As host of the summit, Chretien has been asked to put together the G-8's response to a new aid program for Africa that has been developed by leaders from the continent, chief among them Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
Details of how African aid will be distributed in the future have not been determined, but western and African leaders are trying to agree on a way to reward countries that have achieved human rights, democratic and social reforms.
Chretien said getting Africa to be a greater contributor to the world economy has to be a priority for the West.
"Africa is not only a political and social, but it is an economic problem too," he said. "This is a continent, 800 million people, regressing rather than progressing. So we have to make sure that they come back as part of the global situation and make a positive contribution to growth in the world."
Canada is also expected to reduce tariffs on some African manufactured goods, including textiles, to help open new markets to help push economic development in the region.
Chretien was scheduled to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mbeki, the South African president, on Tuesday in London before returning to Ottawa.
Although at first he didn't realize he was meeting Mbeki, Chretien said the two would discuss progress on the aid deal after he was assured by an official that a meeting was scheduled.
"We are close to a deal, but the deal will be signed in Kananaskis," he said.
"The drafting is not over. . . . We are well on course. They (African leaders) know what we want and what we want to achieve, and they want to achieve the same goals."
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