Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi on Monday urged the first world to further alleviate the debt burden of poor countries.
Sustainable development was unlikely to be achieved in Africa given the current levels of debt, along with the shrinking overseas development assistance and foreign direct investment flows, he told heads of state in Johannesburg.
In an address at a plenary of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Moi said the debt burden resulted in the mass outflow of resources which could have been used for such development.
Poverty had to be addressed foremost before sustainable development could be addressed, he told his counterparts.
”Poverty reduces living conditions to a continuous and desperate struggle for survival.” In such a situation one could not be expected to weigh the consequences of one’s actions.
Moi asked for concerted efforts to ensure developing countries could effectively participate in the global financial and trading system.
On globalisation, he said: ”Its costs are borne by all, but its benefits and opportunities are concentrated in a small number of countries in the north.”
According to Moi, it was imperative that these countries addressed sustainable development in a globalising world.
Developing economies should be given full access to markets in the north, and developed nations had to meet the target of dedicating 0,7 percent of their gross domestic product to overseas development aid over the next five years, the Kenyan leader said. – Sapa