    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [May 17, 1998]
    [Pages 784-791]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Group of Eight Birmingham Summit Communique
    May 17, 1998

    Introduction

        1. We, the Heads of State or Government of eight major
    industrialised democracies and the President of the European Commission,
    met in Birmingham to discuss issues affecting people in our own and
    other countries. In a world of increasing globalisation we are ever more
    interdependent. Our challenge is to build on

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    and sustain the process of globalisation and to ensure that its benefits
    are spread more widely to improve the quality of life of people
    everywhere. We must also ensure that our institutions and structures
    keep pace with the rapid technological and economic changes under way in
    the world.
        2. Of the major challenges facing the world on the threshold of the
    21st century, this Summit has focused on three:
        --achieving sustainable economic growth and development throughout
            the world in a way which, while safeguarding the environment and
            promoting good governance, will enable developing countries to
            grow faster and reduce poverty, restore growth to emerging Asian
            economies, and sustain the liberalisation of trade in goods and
            services and of investment in a stable international economy;
        --building lasting growth in our own economies in which all can
            participate, creating jobs and combating social exclusion;
        --tackling drugs and transnational crime which threaten to sap this
            growth, undermine the rule of law and damage the lives of
            individuals in all countries of the world.
        Our aim in each case has been to agree concrete actions to tackle
    these challenges.

    Promoting sustainable growth in the global economy

        3. In an interdependent world, we must work to build sustainable
    economic growth in all countries. Global integration is a process we
    have encouraged and shaped and which is producing clear benefits for
    people throughout the world. We welcomed the historic decisions taken on
    2 May on the establishment of European Economic and Monetary Union. We
    look forward to a successful EMU which contributes to the health of the
    world economy. The commitment in European Union countries to sound
    fiscal policies and continuing structural reform is key to the long-term
    success of EMU, and to improving the prospects for growth and
    employment.
        4. Overall global prospects remain good. However, since we last met,
    the prospects have been temporarily set back by the financial crisis in
    Asia. We confirm our strong support for the efforts to re-establish
    stability and growth in the region and for the key role of the
    International Financial Institutions. Successful recovery in Asia will
    bring important benefits for us all. Therefore:
        --we strongly support reforms underway in the affected countries and
            welcome the progress so far achieved. With full implementation
            of programmes agreed with the IMF we are confident that
            stability can be restored. The underlying factors that helped
            Asia achieve impressive growth in the past remain in place.
            Implementation of agreed policies together with the action taken
            by ourselves and other countries to avoid spillover effects
            provide the basis for a firm recovery in the region and renewed
            global stability;
        --we believe a key lesson from events in Asia is the importance of
            sound economic policy, transparency and good governance. These
            improve the functioning of financial markets, the quality of
            economic policy making and public understanding and support for
            sound policies, and thereby enhance confidence. It is also
            important to ensure that the private sector plays a timely and
            appropriate role in crisis resolution;
        --we are conscious of the serious impact of the crisis in the region
            on the poor and most vulnerable. Economic and financial reform
            needs to be matched with actions and policies by the countries
            concerned to help protect these groups from the worst effects of
            the crisis. We welcome the support for this by the World Bank,
            the Asian Development Bank and bilateral donors and the
            increased emphasis on social expenditure in programmes agreed by
            the IMF;
        --we are concerned that the difficulties could trigger short-term
            protectionist forces both in the region and in our own
            countries. Such an approach would be highly damaging to the
            prospects for recovery. We resolve to keep our own markets open
            and call on other countries to do the same. We emphasize the
            importance for the affected countries of continued opening of
            their markets to investment and trade.
        5. Looking ahead to the WTO's celebration of the 50th anniversary of
    the founding of the GATT next week, we:
        --reaffirm our strong commitment to continued trade and investment
            liberalisation within the multilateral framework of the WTO;

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        --call on all countries to open their markets further and resist
            protectionism;
        --strongly support the widening of the WTO's membership in
            accordance with established WTO rules and practices;
        --agree to promote public support for the multilateral system by
            encouraging greater transparency in the WTO, as in other
            international organisations;
        --reaffirm our support for efforts to complete existing multilateral
            commitments, push forward the built-in agenda and tackle new
            areas in pursuing broad-based multilateral liberalisation;
        --confirm our wish to see emerging and developing economies
            participate fully and effectively in the multilateral trade
            system; commit ourselves to deliver early, tangible benefits
            from this participation to help generate growth and alleviate
            poverty in these countries; and undertake to help least
            developed countries by:
              --providing additional duty-free access for their goods, if
                necessary on an autonomous basis,
              --ensuring that rules of origin are transparent,
              --assisting efforts to promote regional integration,
              --helping their markets become more attractive and accessible
                to investment and capital flows.
        6. The last point highlights one of the most difficult challenges
    the world faces: to enable the poorer developing countries, especially
    in Africa, develop their capacities, integrate better into the global
    economy and thereby benefit from the opportunities offered by
    globalisation. We are encouraged by the new spirit of hope and progress
    in Africa. The challenges are acute, but confidence that they can be
    overcome is growing. We commit ourselves to a real and effective
    partnership in support of these countries' efforts to reform, to
    develop, and to reach the internationally agreed goals for economic and
    social development, as set out in the OECD's 21st Century Strategy. We
    shall therefore work with them to achieve at least primary education for
    children everywhere, and to reduce drastically child and maternal
    mortality and the proportion of the world's population living in extreme
    poverty.
        7. To help achieve these goals, we intend to implement fully the
    vision we set out at Lyon and Denver. We therefore pledge ourselves to a
    shared international effort:
        --to provide effective support for the efforts of these countries to
            build democracy and good governance, stronger civil society and
            greater transparency, and to take action against corruption, for
            example by making every effort to ratify the OECD Anti-Bribery
            Convention by the end of 1998;
        --to recognise the importance of substantial levels of development
            assistance and to mobilise resources for development in support
            of reform programmes, fulfilling our responsibilities and in a
            spirit of burden-sharing, including negotiating a prompt and
            adequate replenishment of the soft loan arm of the World Bank
            (IDA 12) as well as providing adequate resources for the
            Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility of the IMF and for the
            African Development Fund;
        --to work to focus existing bilateral aid and investment agency
            assistance in support of sound reforms, including the
            development of basic social infrastructure and measures to
            improve trade and investment;
        --to work within the OECD on a recommendation on untying aid to the
            least developed countries with a view to proposing a text in
            1999;
        --to support the speedy and determined extension of debt relief to
            more countries, within the terms of the Heavily Indebted Poor
            Countries (HIPC) initiative agreed by the International
            Financial Institutions (IFIs) and Paris Club. We welcome the
            progress achieved with six countries already declared eligible
            for HIPC debt relief and a further two countries likely to be
            declared shortly. We encourage all eligible countries to take
            the policy measures needed to embark on the process as soon as
            possible, so that all can be in the process by the year 2000. We
            will work with the international institutions and other
            creditors to ensure that when they qualify, countries get the
            relief they need, including interim relief measures whenever
            necessary, to secure a lasting exit from their debt problems. We
            expect the World Bank to join the future financial effort to
            help the African Development Bank finance its contribution to
            the HIPC initiative;

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        --to call on those countries who have not already done so to forgive
            aid-related bilateral debt or take comparable action for
            reforming least developed countries;
        --to enhance mutual cooperation on infectious and parasitic diseases
            and support the World Health Organisation's efforts in those
            areas. We support the new initiative to ``Roll Back Malaria'' to
            relieve the suffering experienced by hundreds of millions of
            people, and significantly reduce the death rate from malaria by
            2010. We will also continue our efforts to reduce the global
            scourge of AIDS through vaccine development, preventive
            programmes and appropriate therapy, and by our continued support
            for UNAIDS. We welcome the French proposal for a ``Therapeutic
            Solidarity Initiative'' and other proposals for the prevention
            and treatment of AIDS, and request our experts to examine
            speedily the feasibility of their implementation.
        8. We see a particular need to strengthen Africa's ability to
    prevent and ease conflict, as highlighted in the UN Secretary General's
    recent report. We will look for ways to enhance the capacity of Africa-
    based institutions to provide training in conflict prevention and
    peacekeeping. We also need to consider further ways to respond to the
    exceptional needs of poor post-conflict countries as they rebuild their
    political, economic and social systems, in a manner consistent with
    democratic values and respect for basic human rights. In addition to
    immediate humanitarian assistance:
        --we recognise the need for technical and financial assistance in
            creating strong democratic and economic institutions, supporting
            good governance alongside programmes of macroeconomic and
            structural reform supported by the IMF and World Bank. We call
            on the World Bank to play a strong role in co-ordinating
            bilateral and multilateral assistance in these areas;
        --we also agree on the need to consider ways for debt relief
            mechanisms, including the HIPC initiative where appropriate, to
            be used to release more and earlier resources for essential
            rehabilitation, particularly for those countries with arrears to
            the IFIs.
        9. A crucial factor in ensuring sustainable development and global
    growth is an efficient energy market. We therefore endorse the results
    of our Energy Ministers' Meeting in Moscow in April. We shall continue
    cooperation on energy matters in the G8 framework. We recognise the
    importance of soundly based political and economic stability in the
    regions of energy production and transit. With the objective of ensuring
    reliable, economic, safe and environmentally-sound energy supplies to
    meet the projected increase in demand, we commit ourselves to encourage
    the development of energy markets. Liberalisation and restructuring to
    encourage efficiency and a competitive environment should be supported
    by transparent and non-discriminatory national legislative and
    regulatory frameworks with a view to establishing equitable treatment
    for both government and private sectors as well as domestic and foreign
    entities. These are essential to attract the new investment which our
    energy sectors need. We also recognise the importance of international
    co-operation to develop economically viable international energy
    transmission networks. We shall pursue this co-operation bilaterally and
    multilaterally, including within the framework and principles of the
    Energy Charter Treaty.
        10. Considering the new competitive pressures on our electric power
    sectors, we reaffirm the commitment we made at the 1996 Moscow Summit to
    the safe operation of nuclear power plants and the achievement of high
    safety standards worldwide, and attach the greatest importance to the
    full implementation of the Nuclear Safety Account grant agreements. We
    reaffirm our commitment to the stated mission of the Nuclear Safety
    Working Group (NSWG). We agreed to deepen Russia's role in the
    activities of the NSWG, with a view to eventual full membership in the
    appropriate circumstances. We acknowledge successful cooperation on the
    pilot project of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
    (ITER) and consider it desirable to continue international cooperation
    for civil nuclear fusion development.
        11. The greatest environmental threat to our future prosperity
    remains climate change. We confirm our determination to address it, and
    endorse the results of our Environment Ministers' meeting at Leeds
    Castle. The adoption at Kyoto of a Protocol with legally binding targets
    was a historic turning point in our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
    emissions. We welcome the recent signature of the Protocol by some of us
    and confirm the intention of the rest of us to sign it within the next
    year, and resolve to make an urgent start on the further

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    work that is necessary to ratify and make Kyoto a reality. To this end:
        --we will each undertake domestically the steps necessary to reduce
            significantly greenhouse gas emissions;
        --as the Kyoto protocol says, to supplement domestic actions, we
            will work further on flexible mechanisms such as international
            market-based emissions trading, joint implementation and the
            clean development mechanism, and on sinks. We aim to draw up
            rules and principles that will ensure an enforceable,
            accountable, verifiable, open and transparent trading system and
            an effective compliance regime;
        --we will work together and with others to prepare for the Buenos
            Aires meeting of COP4 this autumn. We will also look at ways of
            working with all countries to increase global participation in
            establishing targets to limit or reduce greenhouse gas
            emissions. We will aim to reach agreement as soon as possible on
            how the clean development mechanism can work, including how it
            might best draw on the experience and expertise of existing
            institutions, including the Global Environment Facility. We look
            forward to increasing participation from developing countries,
            which are likely to be most affected by climate change and whose
            share of emissions is growing. We will work together with
            developing countries to achieve voluntary efforts and
            commitments, appropriate to their national circumstances and
            development needs. We shall also enhance our efforts with
            developing countries to promote technological development and
            diffusion.
        12. The recent devastating forest fires in south-east Asia and the
    Amazon, threatening not only our environment but even economic growth
    and political stability, illustrate the crucial importance of global
    cooperation, and of better and more effective frameworks and practical
    efforts designed to sustainably manage and conserve forests. In the year
    2000 we will assess our progress on implementation of the G8 Action
    Programme published last week. We strongly support the ongoing work on
    forests under the auspices of the United Nations, and we look forward to
    continuing these efforts.

    Growth, employability, and inclusion

        13. All our people, men and women, deserve the opportunity to
    contribute to and share in national prosperity through work and a decent
    standard of living. The challenge is how to reap the benefits of rapid
    technological change and economic globalisation whilst ensuring that all
    our citizens share in these benefits by increasing growth and job
    creation, and building an inclusive society. To accomplish this, we
    recognise the importance of modernising domestic economic and social
    structures within a sound macro-economic framework. To these ends we
    strongly endorse the seven principles agreed by the G8 Finance,
    Economic, Labour and Employment Ministers at their London Conference in
    February on ``Growth, Employability and Inclusion''. We also welcome the
    conclusions of the Kobe Jobs Conference of November 1997, with their
    particular focus on active aging.
        14. We discussed and welcomed the Action Plans we have each produced
    to show how the seven principles of the London Conference are being
    implemented. By sharing national experiences and best practices in this
    area, we can improve our policies and responses. We underlined the
    importance of the involvement of employers and unions in securing
    successful implementation of these Plans.
        15. The Action Plans show that individually we are all making new
    commitments to improve employability and job creation in our countries.
    In particular, we have committed ourselves to:
        --measures to help young, long-term unemployed and other groups hard
            hit by unemployment find work;
        --measures to help entrepreneurs to set up companies;
        --carrying out structural reforms, including making tax and benefit
            systems more employment friendly and liberalisation of product
            markets;
        --measures to promote lifelong learning.
        16. Each country confirmed its determination to introduce the
    measures set out in its Action Plans and to pursue the concept of active
    aging. Measures on active aging should explore what forms of work are
    appropriate to the needs of older workers and adapt work to suit them
    accordingly.

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        17. These measures will help generate soundly-based and equitable
    growth. We are also willing to share our principles and experiences,
    including in the relevant international institutions particularly the
    ILO, OECD and the IFIs, to help foster growth, jobs and inclusion not
    only in the G8 but throughout the world. We renew our support for global
    progress towards the implementation of internationally recognised core
    labour standards, including continued collaboration between the ILO and
    WTO secretariats in accordance with the conclusions of the Singapore
    conference and the proposal for an ILO declaration and implementation
    mechanism on these labour standards.

    Combating drugs and international crime

        18. Globalisation has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in
    transnational crime. This takes many forms, including trafficking in
    drugs and weapons; smuggling of human beings; the abuse of new
    technologies to steal, defraud and evade the law; and the laundering of
    the proceeds of crime.
        19. Such crimes pose a threat not only to our citizens and their
    communities, through lives blighted by drugs and societies living in
    fear of organised crime; but also a global threat which can undermine
    the democratic and economic basis of societies through the investment of
    illegal money by international cartels, corruption, a weakening of
    institutions and a loss of confidence in the rule of law.
        20. To fight this threat, international cooperation is
    indispensable. We ourselves, particularly since the Lyon summit in 1996,
    have sought ways to improve that cooperation. Much has already been
    achieved. We acknowledge the work being done in the UN, the EU and by
    other regional groupings. We welcome the steps undertaken by the G8 Lyon
    Group to implement its 40 Recommendations on transnational organised
    crime and the proposals G8 Justice and Interior Ministers announced at
    their meeting in Washington last December. By working together, our
    countries are helping each other catch criminals and break up cartels.
    But more needs to be done. There must be no safe havens either for
    criminals or for their money.
        21. We have therefore agreed a number of further actions to tackle
    this threat more effectively:
        --We fully support efforts to negotiate within the next two years an
            effective United Nations convention against transnational
            organised crime that will provide our law enforcement
            authorities with the additional tools they need.
        --We agree to implement rapidly the ten principles and ten point
            action plan agreed by our Ministers on high tech crime. We call
            for close cooperation with industry to reach agreement on a
            legal framework for obtaining, presenting and preserving
            electronic data as evidence, while maintaining appropriate
            privacy protection, and agreements on sharing evidence of those
            crimes with international partners. This will help us combat a
            wide range of crime, including abuse of the internet and other
            new technologies.
        --We welcome the FATF decision to continue and enlarge its work to
            combat money-laundering in partnership with regional groupings.
            We place special emphasis on the issues of money laundering and
            financial crime, including issues raised by offshore financial
            centres. We welcome the proposal to hold in Moscow in 1999 a
            Ministerial meeting on combating transnational crime. We agreed
            to establish Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) where we do not
            already have them, in line with our national constitutions and
            legal systems, to collect and analyse information on those
            engaged in money laundering and liaise with the equivalent
            agencies in partner countries. We agreed on principles and the
            need for adequate legislation to facilitate asset confiscation
            from convicted criminals, including ways to help each other
            trace, freeze and confiscate those assets, and where possible,
            in accordance with national legislation, share seized assets
            with other nations.
        --We agree on the need to explore ways of combating official
            corruption arising from the large flows of criminal money.
        --We are deeply concerned by all forms of trafficking of human
            beings including the smuggling of migrants. We agreed to joint
            action to combat trafficking in women and children, including
            efforts to prevent such crimes, protect victims and prosecute
            the traffickers. We commit ourselves to develop a
            multidisciplinary and comprehensive strategy, including
            principles and an action plan for future cooperation amongst
            ourselves

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            and with third countries, including countries of origin, transit
            and destination, to tackle this problem. We consider the future
            comprehensive UN organised crime convention an important
            instrument for this purpose.
        --We endorse joint law enforcement action against organised crime
            and welcome the cooperation between competent agencies in
            tackling criminal networks. We agree to pursue further action,
            particularly in dealing with major smuggling routes and
            targeting specific forms of financial fraud.
        --We endorse the Lyon Group's principles and action plan to combat
            illegal manufacturing and trafficking of firearms. We welcome
            its agreement to work towards the elaboration of a binding
            international legal instrument in the context of the UN
            transnational organised crime convention.
        22. We urge the Lyon Group to intensify its on-going work and ask
    our Ministers to report back to our next Summit on progress on the
    action plan on high tech crime, the steps taken against money laundering
    and the joint action on trafficking in human beings. We also welcome the
    steps agreed by our Environment Ministers on 5 April to combat
    environmental crime.
        23. There is a strong link between drugs and wider international and
    domestic crime. We welcome the forthcoming UNGASS on drugs. This should
    signal the international community's determination in favour of a
    comprehensive strategy to tackle all aspects of the drugs problem. For
    its part, the G8 is committed to partnership and shared responsibility
    in the international community to combat illicit drugs. This should
    include reinforced cooperation to curb illicit trafficking in drugs and
    chemical precursors, action to reduce demand in our countries, including
    through policies to reduce drug dependency, and support for a global
    approach to eradicating illicit crops. We welcome the UNDCP's global
    approach to eliminating or significantly reducing illicit drug
    production, where appropriate through effective alternative development
    programmes.

    Non-Proliferation and Export Controls

        24. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their
    delivery systems threatens the security of every nation. Our countries
    have been in the forefront of efforts to prevent proliferation, and we
    have worked closely together to support international non-proliferation
    regimes. We pledge to continue and strengthen this co-operation. As a
    key element of this co-operation, we reaffirm our commitment to ensure
    the effective implementation of export controls, in keeping with our
    undertakings within the non-proliferation regimes. We will deny any kind
    of assistance to programmes for weapons of mass destruction and their
    means of delivery. To this end, we will where appropriate undertake and
    encourage the strengthening of laws, regulations and enforcement
    mechanisms. We will likewise enhance amongst ourselves and with other
    countries our co-operation on export control, including for instance on
    the exchange of information. We will ask our experts to focus on
    strengthening export control implementation. And we will broaden
    awareness among our industrial and business communities of export
    control requirements.

    Year 2000 Bug

        25. The Year 2000 (or Millennium) Bug problem, deriving from the way
    computers deal with the change to the year 2000, presents major
    challenges to the international community, with vast implications, in
    particular in the defence, transport, telecommunications, financial
    services, energy and environmental sectors, and we noted the vital
    dependence of some sectors on others. We agreed to take further urgent
    action and to share information, among ourselves and with others, that
    will assist in preventing disruption in the near and longer term. We
    shall work closely with business and organisations working in those
    sectors, who will bear much of the responsibility to address the
    problem. We will work together in international organisations, such as
    the World Bank to assist developing countries, and the OECD, to help
    solve this critical technological problem and prepare for the year 2000.

    Next Summit

        26. We accepted the invitation of the Chancellor of the Federal
    Republic of Germany to meet again next year in Koln on 18-20 June.

    17 May 1998

    Note: This communique was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on May 17 but was not issued as a White House press release.

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    An original was not available for verification of the content of this
    communique.