G8 finance ministers fail to warm to task in icy Moscow
One of the few advantages of meeting in an ice-bound Moscow in February is the salutary reminder of the downsides of energy shortages. Russia, whose membership of the Group of Eight countries is somewhat controversial, has been gripped by a winter that was blisteringly cold even by its own impressive standards.
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Saturday's meeting of G8 finance ministers, in a hotel overlooked by the brooding towers and crenellated walls of the Kremlin, was some distance from the leading edge of actual international policy-making. It was a preparatory planning meeting for another finance ministers' planning meeting in June before the actual G8 heads of government meeting in St Petersburg in July.
Vladimir Putin, Russian president, who will host the St Petersburg summit, displayed an unconscious but impeccable sense of comic timing. Choosing to focus the year's discussions on energy security may have seemed sensible last year, particularly since it is one of the issues on which Russia has something tangible to contribute to the G8. But spending the first few weeks of the new year attracting opprobrium from across Europe for threatening gas supplies as the result of a spat with Ukraine was not, perhaps, the best way for Russia to kick off the discussion.
Applying the same principle across the G8, as some observers pointed out, could mean the US focusing its G8 presidency on global warming or France using its turn in the chair to discuss agricultural liberalisation.
So many are the issues that now exercise finance ministers, from development aid to infectious diseases to terror finance to trade, that some seemed to receive rather short shrift this weekend. The agenda for the meeting envisaged a conversation about the financing of terrorism and money-laundering that lasted a grand total of 10 minutes, for example, while a rather unexpected Russian initiative to discuss good governance in public finances was given 15.
Russia's membership may be appropriate to discussing security and energy issues. But for financial matters, it looks slightly out of place, Moscow being a debtor rather than a creditor to the Paris Club of rich nations. The "deputies' meeting" of high-level officials from the Group of Seven - the G8 excluding Russia - in London last week was regarded as something of a snub to Moscow, though John Snow, US Treasury secretary, perhaps improbably, claimed not to know anything about the deputies' meeting.
Even for energy issues, some officials said it was not clear that the G8 was the most appropriate forum. European countries including France have been concentrating on getting Russia to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty, which lays down rules for maintaining energy supplies. True, Russia has signed and not ratified the charter, but then two other G8 members, the US and Canada, both of which are oil producers, have not even signed it. Though all attending were eager to talk in general terms of energy security, the issue of gas supplies through the Ukraine is a European problem.
Palaniappan Chidambaram, the Indian finance minister, was invited to a special session of the G8, along with China and Brazil. Coming from a big oil importer, he was less polite about the history of turning the warm words of G8 communiqués into action. "They have been saying this for the last year," Mr Chidambaram said. "Producers and consumers must come together and have a dialogue. The IMF [International Monetary Fund] says it but it has not happened. Secretary Snow says it all the time but it hasn't happened."
Some ministers perhaps had other things on their minds. Gordon Brown, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, is usually eager to use G7 and G8 meetings as a public platform from which to expound his latest scheme for helping the developing world. But the unwelcome news on Friday morning that his Labour party was defeated in a by-election next door to his own constituency may well have been a higher priority. As it was, he spent less than 24 hours on Russian soil and, alone of the G8 ministers, did not give a press conference - an almost unheard-of degree of reticence.
The weather, at least, ought to have improved by the time the eight meet again. But the prospect of progress in this year's G8 talks remains mired in fog.
能源问题依然困难重重
在
2月冰封的莫斯科举行会议，仅有的好处之一是有利于提醒与会者关注能源短缺的严峻形势。作为一个其八国集团(G8)成员资格尚存争议的国家，目前的俄罗斯正处于隆冬季节――即使按它自己的非常标准衡量，今年的这个冬天也可以称得上是严寒。
最近，在莫斯科一家可以仰视克里姆林宫(Kremlin)城墙和尖塔的酒店，八国集团召开了一次财长会议。此次会谈距离真正制定国际政策还有一定距离。这只是一个预备性筹备会议，旨在为财长们将于今年6月召开的另一次筹备会议做准备，之后，八国集团将于7月份在圣彼得堡举行正式的政府首脑会议。
俄罗斯总统普京(Vladimir Putin)届时将主持圣彼得堡峰会。而他选择今年讨论能源安全问题，无意当中充满了讽刺意味。如果是在去年，选择以能源安全作为年度峰会的讨论重点似乎还比较合情合理，尤其因为这是俄罗斯对八国集团有切实贡献的领域之一。然而，由于俄罗斯与乌克兰在天然气问题上的争端，威胁到对欧洲的天然气供应，使得俄罗斯在新年的前几个星期倍受欧洲各国的谴责，对它而言，用这种方式开启八国集团讨论能源问题，可能算不上明智之举。
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正如一些观察人士指出，如果八国集团都如此行事，那么，美国在主持八国集团会议期间就应该关注全球变暖问题，而法国也应该利用其担任轮值主席国的机会来讨论农业自由化问题。
现在，有很多议题困扰着财政部长们，从发展援助到传染病，从恐怖活动融资到贸易问题。其中一些议题在上周末会议期间获得的讨论时间相当短。例如，会议议程里对恐怖分子筹措经费和洗钱的讨论时间大概为10分钟，而俄罗斯相当出人意料的主动提议讨论对公共财政的良好监管，却得到了15分钟的讨论时间。
俄罗斯在八国集团中的身份可能适于讨论安全和能源问题，但讨论金融事务对它而言似乎有些不合适――对于由富国组成的巴黎俱乐部(Paris Club)而言，俄罗斯是它的一个债务国，而非债权国。七国集团的高层官员上周在伦敦举行了“副财长会议”，被视为对莫斯科的一种冷落 ，尽管美国财长约翰?斯诺(John Snow)宣称（或许只是假意宣称），他也不知道关于“副财长会议”的任何事情。七国集团包括俄罗斯之外的八国集团的其余7个成员国。
即使在能源问题上，一些官员也表示，不知道八国集团是否是最合适的论坛。包括法国在内欧洲各国，一直致力于促使俄罗斯批准《能源宪章条约》(Energy Charter Treaty)，其中包括关于维持能源供应的各项规定。而事实上，俄罗斯已经签了字，只是议会还没有批准该条约，但八国集团的另两位成员，即同为石油生产国的美国和加拿大，甚至还没有在条约上签字。尽管所有与会者均期望就能源安全问题展开一般讨论，但欧洲最为关注的是取道乌克兰获得天然气供应问题。
印度财政部长帕拉尼亚潘?齐丹巴南(Palaniappan Chidambaram)与中国和巴西的财长一起，应邀出席了此次八国集团财长会期中的一个特别会议。当提及八国集团将其热情的公告文字落实到行动的历史时，来自一个石油进口大国的他措辞并不客气。“过去一年，他们一直说生产国和消费国必须走到一起，进行一次对话，” 齐丹巴南称，“国际货币基金会(IMF)这么说过，但这并没有发生。斯诺也一直这么说，但它也没有发生。”
一些部长可能需要考虑其它一些事情。英国财政大臣戈登?布朗(Gordon Brown)平时热衷于将八国会议或七国会议作为一个公开平台，在此阐释他提出的援助发展中国家的最新方案。然而，上周五早间传来一个不受欢迎的消息――他所在的工党(Labour party)在紧邻他自己选区的一次补选中被击败，他很可能要优先处理此事。事实上，他在俄罗斯土地上呆了不到24小时，是八国集团财政部长中唯一一个没有举行记者招待会的，这种沉默程度几乎前所未有。
待到八国再度举行会议之时，至少天气状况会有所改善。但今年的八国会谈能否取得进展，前景仍在迷雾之中。
