South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
16 February 2002
Cape Town — A top G8 official on Friday warned African leaders against "unrealistic expectations" of money from industrialised countries to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).
Briefing journalists in Cape Town, Canada's G8 group of industrialised countries representative Robert Fowler said Nepad was about changing the relationship between the developed world and Africa, and not primarily about money.
"Of course its about money, but its not just about money. In fact its even not primarily money.
"... its about putting in place the conditions that will allow investment to come to Africa, because private investment is going to bring to Africa far, far more than any foreseeable amount of global assistance could bring.
"If people believe Nepad is suddenly going to produce US64-billion then they may be disappointed."
Fowler -- the personal representative of Canadian Prime Minister and G8 chairman Jean Chretien was speaking after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki and the 15-member Nepad implementation committee.
He was part of a top-level G8 team, which included Britain's Baroness Valerie Amos, Walter Kansteiner of the US, and former International Monetary Fund managing director Michael Camdessus of France.
Fowler said the costing of the development plan had not been discussed at the meeting the third of six the G8 was using to prepare its answer to Nepad.
"I know there is a number in Nepad and its US64-billion.
It is to me inconceivable that those kinds of resources in that volume could be made available in an early time frame."
A number of the countries in the G8 were experiencing economic problems and some of the economies were in a period of retrenchment, but this did not mean the group would not provide some financial assistance.
The Canadian government, for example, had set aside CAD500-million dollars for Nepad.
The G8 was looking to Nepad to help ensure that the climate was right for increased investment, he said.
These included, amongst other things, a commitment to good governance, effective administration, and the fact that African governments will measure each other, he said.
Amos said the political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe was a cloud that hung over the Nepad process but could not be seen as a litmus test for the plan.
The international community as a whole had a responsibility to come together to work out the issues that Zimbabwe needed to address.
That country's government had not only put Zimbabwe at risk but also other countries within the region through bad economic management and by condoning intimidation and violence.
"We have seen the government of Zimbabwe at every stage ignore some of the warnings of the international community, but I think it would be wrong to be seen as a litmus test for this process (Nepad)," she said.
The head of the Nepad secretariat and Mbeki's economic adviser Wiseman Nkuhlu agreed, saying it was too early to judge the programme.
South Africa and the rest of the continent were taking its responsibilities on Zimbabwe very seriously.
Leaders could no longer hide behind sovereignty as in the past, but actions had to be taken within the context of legitimate structures, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"That is why we can only deal with Zimbabwe within the context of SADC, within the context of the agreements of the OAU (Organisation for African Unity) and the United Nations," he said.
Nkuhlu said the Nepad secretariat was conscious of the fact that Africans had suffered many disappointments and were impatient to see results.
Therefore, while the plan may take many years to show significant results, it was important that Nepad showed some successes every six months, he said.{ADF3]
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