ABSTRACT
The political environment for the G8 summit deteriorated sharply over the year following Kananaskis. The war in Iraq split the G8 members right down the middle. The Evian Summit was successful in producing a truce among the heads, restoring personal contact between them and demonstrating revived unity. G8 foreign ministers met in Paris on 22-23 May and covered conflict prevention and regional issues. The passage on access to medicines repeated the declaration on trade in directing G8 ministers and officials urgently to establish a multilateral solution before the World Trade Organization Cancun meeting. The Africa document only noted where G8 members had carried out the promises of 100" debt relief they had made back in 2000. The G8 proper began on 2 June with a morning session on economic issues. A more substantive meeting followed between the G8 and the Africans. This was in fact the fourth time the G8 had met these African leaders, going back to Okinawa.
