[size=14pt]Jonathan Invited to G8 Meeting in Canada[/size]
By Constance Ikokwu, 06.03.2010

In what could be viewed as further acceptance by the international community, President Goodluck Jonathan has been invited to the G8 meeting taking place in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada on June 25.
The gathering will bring together leaders from the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, Russia and the European Union (EU).

The theme of the meeting is "Recovery and New Begi-nning".
President Jonathan is expected to participate along with some African heads of states at the "Africa Outreach."
Presidents of South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia and Senegal were invited as well as the Chairman of the African Union (AU) and President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika and Chairman of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi.
A range of issues including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be discussed by the attendees at the two-day event.
Canada is hosting the event because it currently holds the G8 presidency which rotates among the most advanced countries in the world.

The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quoted on the government website as saying that the country would use the 2010 G8 presidency to promote issues that concern all particularly maternal mortality and the health of children in the poorest regions of the world.
Harper argued that several thousands of deaths could be halted by simple healthcare solutions such as better nutrition and immunization.
Efforts by the United Nations (UN) to reduce maternal mortality by 75 per cent by 2015 as part of the MDGs may not be fulfilled, he said.

But Canada would push for actions that would make remarkable impact, he stated.
The G8 brings together the world's most advanced countries to brainstorm and take decisions on major global issues. It is an annual event that initially started as G6, later G7 and G8 when Russia joined the group in 1997.
There have been suggestions that the group be expanded to admit developing countries such as Brazil, India, China, Mexico and South Africa.

It is thought that the growing economies of these nations should earn them a seat in the gathering.
They have previously been invited to G8 meetings as guests.
But with developing countries pulling their weight, industrialised nations have noted that G20 groups of nations would eventually replace the G8 as the major forum for discussing world issues.
Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua represented Nigeria at the G8 summit in Italy in 2009. Before then, Yar'Adua had lamented the exclusion of Nigeria from the G20 summit.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=174848

One in the eye for bloody Ghana.