Bush calls on G8 to fulfill aid commitments to Africa

President Bush on Monday during a press conference in London with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations should match aid commitments to Africa made by the U.S., the Kyodo/AOL News reports.

Bush said that G8 leaders met last year and "discussed HIV and malaria in Africa, and they all came forth and said they would match the United States -- except most nations haven't matched the United States except for Great Britain." He added that his "message to the G8" during its summit in Japan next month is, "Looking forward to working with you, thanks for coming to the meeting, just remember that there are people needlessly dying on the continent of Africa today, and we expect you to be more than pledgemakers; we expect you to be check writers for humanitarian reasons."

Brown at the press conference said that during the Japan summit, he will propose a plan, with the support of Bush, to recruit and train health workers for impoverished nations to prevent maternal deaths. Bush and Brown also said that they plan to call on G8 leaders to increase school enrollment in Africa (Kyodo/AOL News, 6/16).