WASHINGTON -- When George W. Bush arrives in Kananaskis for a meeting of the world's richest nations, the fate of the world's poorest people will not be his main concern.
The U.S. president has looked at international relations almost exclusively through the lens of the war against terror since Sept. 11.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien's Africa initiative didn't even register a blip on Bush's radar screen when the U.S. State Department listed priorities for the summiteers who arrived for a grand-scale jamboree yesterday in Alberta's Rocky Mountains.
"Preparing for the fight against terrorism, security for all of us on an international scale . . . the destruction of nuclear materials or chemical and biological materials in the former Soviet Union," were top agenda items, according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"I would also expect discussions of Afghanistan and the long-haul process of rebuilding, expect discussions on the Middle East, discussions over the situation between India and Pakistan."
And aid to Africa?
The Bush administration will say it is noble of Chretien to take it on. But will ladling dollars into the continent prevent the next series of airliner assaults on Americans?
"I am pleased that the prime minister is focusing on those needs, but we will also make the case that there are other nations in the world that have a need for the kinds of funds we are about to make available," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told CTV.
The Africa program -- called the New Partnership for Africa's Development -- is based on reversing the continent's sinking fortunes by promoting a massive increase in foreign trade and investment and by attracting targeted Western aid for education, technology and infrastructure.
It grew out of a commitment from the Group of Eight leaders in Genoa last year to establish a "concrete action plan" for African development.
Finalizing and making public that plan is being billed as the cornerstone of this year's meeting of leaders from Japan, Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Russia and Germany.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and leaders from five African nations will speak at the Kananaskis summit to reassure G-8 governments of the seriousness of their commitment.
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