While it is generally agreed the African continent must be developed, the challenge is in the capacity to do so, President Thabo Mbeki told the World Economic Forum’s summit on Africa on Wednesday.
”Basically our challenge is the capacity to implement what we’ve agreed. Growth, indeed, must come from within the continent. There are some very obvious things that need be done about infrastructure, agriculture, about regional trade and so on,” Mbeki said.
He was addressing delegates at the opening plenary session in Cape Town, which debated the summit’s main theme: ”Going for Growth”.
Mbeki — sharing the panel with Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, International Finance Corporation executive vice-president Lars Thunell and New York University professor William Easterly — talked on growth, its sustainability and challenges facing Africa.
Mbeki said the three-day summit was taking place in an ”atmosphere of hope” for the continent, which was growing at its fastest rate in three decades, averaging 5,5 % annually.
Acknowledging the diverse nature of the continent, Mbeki said it is clear the oil-producing countries register higher rates of growth because of escalating oil prices, while other factors include inflows of private capital and remittances into the continent.
”Is growth the new gospel of the continent? No, I think that what we should say, what the continent should say, [is] that we do need to address this challenge of poverty and underdevelopment … A matter of grave concern is the prediction made that of all the areas of the world, it seems as if the African continent is the one that is going to fail to achieve those MDG [Millennium Development Goals] time-frames,” said Mbeki.
Speaking of other challenges, Mozambican president Guebuza touched on HIV/Aids, unemployment and a dearth of skilled labour, with concomitant low productivity.
There is a need to support the private sector, distinguishing between foreigners and local entrepreneurs. One of the reasons for the good economic performance is political stability.
”Africa is, with some exceptions, in peace and has political stability,” Guebeza said.
Tanzanian president Kikwete talked of burgeoning entrenchment of democracy and good governance, as well as overseas direct investment and debt cancellation as contributory factors to the peaking growth.
”We wish they would cancel all the debts, because we will not be able to pay anyway,” Kikwete said to laughter.
Professor Easterly said growth did not come from foreign aid, which was the area mostly focused on … ”despite the strong evidence … that there’s no association between foreign aid and economic growth”.
”Africa itself has received over $500-billion in foreign aid up to the year 2000, during a period when it was not growing. China and India have achieved home-grown economic growth with no significant aid,” he said.
Easterly concurred with Mbeki’s assertion that growth needed to come from inside Africa, ”not from G8 political leaders” but from African political leaders and their people.
The three-day summit, billed as the ”Davos of Africa”, began on Wednesday, attended by more than 700 delegates, including business and government leaders, civil society and academics.
Several forum initiatives seeking to engage business leaders as catalysts of change will take place, such as the African investment climate facility, partnering against corruption, and strengthening health-care systems. — Sapa