SOUTH AFRICA: The World Summit on Sustainable Development, which opens today, may reach agreement on all of the key issues by the time it concludes next week, according to an upbeat assessment by its secretary general, Mr Nitin Desai.
His optimistic view was echoed by the South African Foreign Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and by senior officials of the European Union, who said the pre-summit negotiations had got off to a "promising start".
Mr Desai even predicted that the final summit declaration on September 5th would spell out the number of countries and, more importantly, the number of people who would benefit from the outcome in Johannesburg.
He was referring to improvements in water and sanitation, energy, health and biodiversity - collectively known by the acronym WEHAB - particularly in the world's poorest countries, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
But the summit's secretary general acknowledged that two main areas of disagreement hung over the negotiations - the regulation of globalisation and the setting of specific targets and timetables for achieving results.
According to one estimate, only four of more than 100 outstanding issues have been resolved so far. "We need credible commitments on the WEHAB issues," Mr Desai told a crowded media briefing yesterday.
"They are all connected. Health problems cannot be separated from water and sanitation."
The South African Foreign Minister, who previously served as her country's health minister, said she believed there was sufficient political will by all of the participants in the summit to make it a success.
"I have certainly not heard of any delegation saying they had come here to ensure that the summit will not succeed," she said. "The dreams and aspirations of millions of poor people must not be dashed."
Irish-born Ms Catherine Day, director general of the European Commission's environment division, said the EU was optimistic about achieving a satisfactory implementation plan by the end of the summit. But there was still a lot of work to be done in terms of setting quantifiable targets, implementation timetables and monitoring mechanisms - all of which the EU insists are necessary to show "real commitment".
Mr Carsten Staur, the Danish State Secretary who is currently leading the EU delegation, also described the atmosphere of the negotiations as "very constructive".
He said he hoped the summit would proceed on this basis.
New texts being put forward on globalisation, trade and financing sustainable development were "more advanced" than what had been produced at the inconclusive preparatory meeting held last June in Bali, Indonesia.
Among the measures being sought by the European Union is a commitment to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 and a "clear political message on the need to make globalisation more sustainable for all". Though the United States is said to be "more engaged" than it was in the process, its delegation - supported by Australia and Canada - is working towards achieving a blander formula, especially on largely US-led globalisation.
Mr Jan Pronk, personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, said there needed to be some trade-off between the security of rich countries which were already safe and the alienation or exclusion of poor nations. Up to yesterday, a total of 4,179 delegates from 186 countries had registered for the summit, as well as 3,062 representatives of NGOs (non-governmental organisations) recognised by the UN, and 2,103 media personnel.
These numbers are expected to swell as the summit gets into higher gear.
It is being held at the opulent, marble-floored Sandton Convention Centre, located in Johannesburg's most exclusive, and still largely white, suburb.
Altogether, 104 heads of state or government have indicated that they will attend, at least for the final few days of high-level talks.
All 15 EU member states, including Ireland, are sending their prime ministers.
The US delegation will be led by its Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, who recently described sustainable development as a "security imperative". President Bush will not be attending the summit.
As at the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago, a global forum organised by environment and development NGOs is running in parallel with the official proceedings - but on the other side of Johannesburg.
