(CP) - About six African leaders will sit down with leaders of the G-8 at their June summit in Kananaskis, Alta., the summit sherpa said Tuesday. This will be the first time African leaders have been invited to the summit table.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien has made African development the theme of this year's summit, of which he is the president.
On the second day of the two-day conference, scheduled for June 26-27, key African proponents of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) will share the table with the national leaders of the world's eight leading industrialized countries. United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan will also take part.
Chretien is currently consulting with the Africans he plans to invite and will make an announcement soon, Robert Fowler told the Commons foreign affairs committee.
"I don't want to scoop him on that but I think it probably is safe to say that he'll be inviting some half dozen African leaders who are key in the NEPAD management process to this meeting," said Fowler, the prime minister's personal representative on Africa and chief summit organizer.
Those countries include South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Egypt, among others.
NEPAD was pitched last year to G-8 leaders in Genoa, Italy. The plan was developed by African leaders as a means to recognize and promote good governance on the continent in a bid to attract foreign investment and aid.
Implementing the plan is Chretien's main focus for this year's summit.
The proposal would open up overseas markets and funnel aid and investment to countries that meet criteria on promoting issues ranging from education to democratic reform and human rights.
"It's about producing a couple of success stories in Africa that will inspire others," Fowler told the committee Tuesday.
"It's about producing champions."
Liberal MP Diane Marleau, the government's former minister for international co-operation, characterized good governance as a euphemism for anti-corruption measures.
She asked Fowler whether the G-8 leaders would examine the facilitation of African corruption by jurisdictions that harbour secret bank accounts and money-laundering havens.
Fowler replied that the war on terrorist financing has demonstrated that headway can be made unearthing secret bank accounts.
Many Africans have also raised the issue, he said.
Fowler said he's been asked: "If you attack al-Qaida money, why can't you attack the ill-gotten gains of kleptomaniacal leaders in Africa?"
"Are there possibilities there? I expect there are," he said. "We're not there yet, but I expect there are."
The Group of Eight countries comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
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