Africa to be in the focus of attention on the summit's first day

TOYAKO, Japan, July 7 (Itar-Tass) - Africa and its problems will be
high on the agenda of the first day of the G-8 summit, which is opening at the fashionable Windsor Hotel on the Japanese Island of Hokkaido on Monday.

The leaders of Britain, Italy, Canada, Russia, the United States,
France, Germany and Japan will try to find a way to resolve numerous
problems facing the African continent - the most backward in our planet
in terms of economic and social development.

The leaders of Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Ethiopia,
South Africa as well as the World Bank President Robert Zoellick, U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the leaders of the African Union will
also attend the meeting on Africa.

The G-8 is expected to increase government aid to Africa as of 2010.
The G-8 summit held in Britain in 2005 set the target of doubling the
amount of aid to African nations by 2010 compared to 2004.

The delegates of the Toyako summit are expected to set up a council of
experts to address public health problems in Africa. It will work out
measures to fight malaria and other lethal infections in Africa.

The G-8 countries are also planning to increase the number medical
personnel in Africa to more than two persons per thousand residents.