G8 Leaders Pledge $60bn to Fight Aids and Provide Free Schooling in Africa

Tony Blair said today world leaders had made "immense progress" in a G8 deal on Africa with a multi-billion-pound package to finance the fight against Aids and provide free schooling.

Attending his last G8 summit, the prime minister said today's deal in the German coastal town of Heiligendamm reaffirmed the promises made at the gathering he hosted two years ago in Gleneagles.

On the last day of the summit, the world's eight leading industrialized countries agreed to commit $60bn (£30bn) in the fight against HIV/Aids and other deadly diseases, such as malaria.

"It's a deal between Africa and the developed world and just as we have recommitted ourselves to substantial increases in support and help, so Africa has recommitted itself to its responsibilities as part of a partnership - proper governance against corruption, proper democracy and so on," Mr Blair said.

But the announcement could not disguise the fact that the G8 had not lived up to the commitments made in Scotland.

The Gleneagles summit called for an increase in aid to $50bn a year by 2010, with half of that going to Africa itself. But amounts pledged since then are set to miss the target by $30bn, anti-poverty and aid groups said.

Aid groups said the timescale on the $60bn for HIV/Aids was unclear and they doubted whether it would be enough to achieve the agreed targets on universal access to treatment by 2010.

"This outcome is a disappointment. Its consequences will be counted in blighted lives, mothers and fathers missing out on life-saving treatment for HIV/Aids and children denied access to education," said George Gelber of Cafod, the Catholic development group. "Fine words about living up to responsibilities cannot replace the real resources that were promised two years ago."