Africa's traders have many obstacles
to overcome
The 14th Africa Economic Summit, an annual meeting organised by the World Economic Forum, is being held this
week in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.
African leaders and business men and women will be
discussing how Africa's development
plan, the New Economic Partnership for Africa's
Development (Nepad) is progressing.
Nepad commits African nations to
improving financial accountability and governance in an effort to boost
investment from rich countries.
The meeting comes amid doubts over whether the plan is
working.
Some of the key topics on the summit's agenda are:
showcasing African success stories;
looking at the scope and scale of
South-South collaboration;
developing infrastructure and the
African capital markets;
enhancing regional integration by
removing trade barriers;
creating larger markets;
and the global fight against
HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
According to Haiko Alfeld, the director for Africa at the World Economic
Forum: "The Africa Economic Summit is an opportunity for the continent's
leaders, both from business and politics, to move beyond listing African
challenges to developing scalable action plans that unleash Africa's full
potential."
Can such meetings ever be more than just a talking shop?
Or can the summit really come up with workable solutions to Africa's
stagnant economies?
What one thing do you think African leaders should do to
encourage economic growth?
The Photograph in this article sums up the fundamental
problem faced by African countries in their attempts to boost trade - the lack
of adequate transport systems and infrastructure. High transport costs, poor
access to market and exposure to falling commodity prices are major factors in
the continuing high rates of rural poverty. Most of Africa
depend on the rural population for agriculture which
in turn contributes to a significant percentage of economic output. Improved
transport policies and projects at regional and national levels are likely to
facilitate and promote trade between African countries as well as secure access
to global markets
Victor Mengot, Surrey
UK
African leaders know what they are supposed to do in order
to develop this continent, but they have chosen not to,rather they are perpetrating bad governance, corruption,human rights abuse, dictatorship,tribalism,
insecurity, civil strifes.These are not issues to be
solved through summits.Africa does not need talk show
summits, what it needed is a responsible leadership that is accountable to the
people.
hesbon okwayo , Nairobi, Kenya.
Africa should focus on asking the
western world to forgive them from debt crisis. This will cause Africa
to grow, due to the fact that they are spending billions and billions of
dollars on paying off debt. Overall, Africa's debt is
causing proverty which leads to AIDS.
Ida, Liberia
I think Africa's problems date back to the days of Slavery
and colonialism, Years of free labour and then
followed by looting by the west in the days of colonization really led to a
lag, if asked what should be done to boost African growth, I think compensation
for slavery and colonization should be the top of the list, followed by removal
of trade barriers and stringetn conditions by lending
bodies like IMF and WOrld bank, then enable debt
relief,
Gloria otieno, Gent,
Belgium (Kenyan)
To Gloria Otieno: I agree slavery
and colonialism has done it's share of damage to Africa,
but compensation ? No ! What
of all the technology scientific developments brought about by colonialism ? Where would Africa be
without these ? Africa, as Hesbon Okwayo says, needs good
governance. The natural resources are there and the people are hard-working. Zimbabwe
is an example of a complete failure brought about only by poor governance.
Mike, UK,
London
With so much of Africa's population
relying solely on subsitence agriculture there is
little incentive for foreign investment and small scope for trade. In my
opinion increasing sustainable outputs should be paramount. I think there is
definitely a chance that the economic forum can at least act as a sounding
board for the variety of cultures and societies.
Matt, Edinburgh
African nations must develop an enabling social, political
and economic environment for its economies to really take off. By this I mean,
infrastructures like water,electricity,
roads, rail and security of life and property. The rulers should forget about
their penchant for white elephant projects. If the people are empowered African
economy will surely grow.
Osagie Ayanru,
Charleston, WV.,
USA
The best way to boost African growth would be for complete
dismantling of agricultural subsidies in the US
and the EU. This would enable African countries to make more money from their
agricultural sectors which could then be used to invest in infrastructure and
education to improve their economies.
Amit, London,UK
Good Governance, Justice, Freedom of speech &
enterprise, less corruption and more investment in Health and Education. I
other words care for people, treat people like human beings.
Sardinha, Luanda,
Angola
I like the idea of free trade. Certainly, removing trade
barriers among african
states will boost trade exchange.
Fatih Ahmed, Khartoum,
Sudan
african
countries should band together to negotiate for a more equitable deal from the
WTO. A good place to start would be removing the Northern barriers to trade
which would increase the amount african
countries could export
peter sadler,
london, england
Good governance that is accountable to the people, along
with; Better road infrastructure, constant electricity, safe drinking water, better
communication systems. Some of these things can be set up as regional networks
as oppose to an individual country doing it alone . . . say a west African
Beltway, rail network, water and air transportation to move people and goods
around faster. Until African leaders are ready to think, talk, and act global,
the cycle will continue.
Carlton Boah, USA
You know what we need most in Africa?
It's not foreign aid...it's not IMF/World Bank loan...it's not even the removal
of trade barrier. Africa needs, as a matter of urgency,
education and mental development. It's disheartening to see African leaders use
the scarce resource of their countries to attend useless summits every other
day.
Tony Izuogu, Ghana
(Nigerian)
2 June, 2004
Source: BBC
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