Pledges action on African poverty

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Canada and other G8 members are vowing to maintain their focus on African poverty and other external issues during this week's summit for finance ministers, even though almost all of the member states are suffering economic woes.

Britain, which as president this year largely controls the G8 agenda, has particularly emphasized the need to lift Africa out of its doldrums. But the Group of Eight, whose members are among the world's leading industrialized countries, still appears a long way from agreeing on how to accomplish that goal.

"This is not a time for timidity nor a time to fear reaching too high," British Finance Minister Gordon Brown said Friday in Edinburgh.

In Ottawa, a spokesman for Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said there's little desire by any of the G8 countries to step away from Africa's issues without a strong plan in place. "We're pretty firm where we're at," Pat Breton said.

One of Canada's leading economists said G8 leaders are often eager to focus on external issues because those don't require them to make politically difficult changes within their own borders.

"Many of the developed economies are in a pretty sick condition," said Don Drummond, chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank. "That's what they should focus on."

Mr. Drummond said Japan and the United States -- the Group of Eight's two largest economies -- face huge fiscal deficits, while European G8 members, particularly France and Germany, struggle with persistent high unemployment and low growth.