[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 21 (Monday, May 25, 1998)]
[Pages 903-909]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Group of Eight Birmingham Summit Communique

May 17, 1998

Introduction

    1. We, the Heads of State or Government of eight major industralised 
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 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

[[Page 904]]

      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;
    --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

[[Page 905]]

      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;
    --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

[[Page 906]]

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 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

[[Page 907]]

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.
    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:

[[Page 908]]

    --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 mutlidisciplinary 
      and comprehensive strategy, including principles and an action 
      plan for future cooperation amongst ourselves 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

[[Page 909]]

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