Food Security and Foreign Aid Policy Top the Agenda at G8 and G20 Youth Summit

Impact
By Mia Wang

Friday marks the third and final day of  intense committee negotiations at the  G8 and G20 Youth Summit. In the first two days of negotiations,  food security and human security were the major topics of discussion.  Friday's debates were largely about aid efficiency and economic realignment.

While the negotiations initially progressed without much disagreement, tension intensified when discussing the change of current economic alignment, with China at the center of discussions.

China is  one of the few countries that is both a donating and receiving country, so its attitude was subtle. When discussing if recipient countries are obliged to donate to other  countries, Canada and China had a heated debated. Canadian delegates pointed out that China has signed most of the human rights clauses in the world and thus has the responsibility to do so, while Chinese delegates fought back that China can not provide democratic assurance and claimed that China would stop donating to other developing countries if that is the case. At last, a compromise was made. Recipient countries are not obliged to donate and maintain South-South cooperation. 

 

Besides food price volatility, delegates will discuss issues such as “land tenure” and “land grabbing” on Friday. China was skeptical about the term “land tenure,” claiming that it does not apply to its law of land ownership. But whether the disputes will be sorted or not, the Development Committee has been a success. The heads of states discussed major issues, and will go over the topics for the last time and tomorrow will be the climax of the 2012 G20 Youth Summit.