[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.