Baltimore — Speaking at The Corporate Council on Africa's banquet on Thursday, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz addressed the issue of corruption. "Let's hold a mirror up to ourselves and remember every corrupt transaction has two parties - a corruptee and a corruptor. And if the African people and their leaders are stepping up to the challenge of dealing with the corruptee- those of us in the developed world have responsibility to address corruptors as well, to help African countries, as the Nigerians are seeking to do now, to recover the some of the stolen wealth that is sitting in bank accounts where it doesn't belong."
Text of remarks by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz at the Corporate Council on Africa dinner
Mr. Fountain, thank you very much I appreciate that introduction, I think it counts as the most unusual one I have ever had, because you only went about - back about four weeks as I counted and usually they start in grade school and tell you where you went to college; I appreciate that.
Lieutenant Governor Steele, as one of your constituents, a resident of Maryland, and as a former dean of John Hopkins's University, it's good to be back in Baltimore. I have to confess it wasn't that, that attracted me, it was the Corporate Council on Africa, but I am glad they showed such good judgment in being here.John Watson, thank you for those remarks and to both of you - you already conveyed in a powerful way what I sense is real excitement about the change that's taking place in Africa, a real sense of opportunity and particularly appreciate, Lieutenant Governor Steele, your comments about the historical significance of this against the background of centuries of tragic history.
I was honored to be selected as president of the World Bank, but as they say, the honor lasts five minutes. You make a mistake if you take a job like this for the honor of it. I took it with an enormous sense of responsibility and a special sense of responsibility about Africa, because I knew that the World Bank is critically needed in Africa and that the bank as an institution has a unique role to play in Africa.
And I really began in a sense from the reference point of six or seven - I guess it was about six years ago, when we met with then Governor Bush in Austin to discuss the contents of an upcoming foreign policy address he was going to make and I had been reading a lot in preparation about conditions in Africa and statistics that still stick with me are statistics about the number of children who were orphaned by AIDS, and other statistics of tragedy and misery and need. And there is no question that there is an enormous compelling moral urgency to the conditions of Africa and there is no question that there are needs, but what was the pleasant surprise for me - it really was a series of pleasant surprises as I began to prepare for this job and as I assumed the job on June 1st, was to realize that there is a lot more going on than just need; that there really is a sense of change underway, a phrase I have liked to use and I like your using the word "hope," that Africa may be on the verge of becoming a continent of hope and that would be a wonderful thing not just for Africa and Africans, but for the whole world because the world can't afford to have 600 million people left behind as the rest of world moves forward. It's not only morally wrong, it's incredibly short sighted.
One of the first things I learned after I was, as they say, unanimously approved for the job and, since its no secret the appointment was slightly controversial I thought the fact that people could agree unanimously on my appointment must show that people are prepared to agree about difficult issues when it comes to promoting development. I have seen that in just the short time I have been here. And I learned that on July 8th in Scotland and Gleneagle there will be summit of the so-called G8 countries and that the British prime minister - the British government have put Africa funds in on the agenda.
I have to tell you my first reaction to that news was, "Oh, boy, five weeks into the job and I am expected to be delivering at that level," but then I thought about it some more and I said, "What a fantastic thing to have Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and following their lead, the G8 countries, focusing on my first priority which is Africa." It couldn't be better. And I have to say after coming back, we started this trip last week in London at a meeting of the G8 finance ministers where major progress made on a debt relief/debt cancellation package for some of the poorest countries in the world including in Africa. (Applause.) And an agreement that, that cancellation would not come at the expense of resources for the World Bank and other development institutions. You have got to realize I like that a lot, but it's good news for the poor people who benefit from the multilateral institutions that there was agreement on supporting the strong efforts of the government of Nigeria in fighting corruption and trying to move through the Paris Club to help Nigeria with it's debt backlog. So it was a good sign.
There were some other good signs. When the World Bank had it's spring meetings here in Washington, I had the privilege of meeting with the 44 African governors of the bank, most of them finance ministers, I was truly impressed by the quality of the discussion, the very high level of the insights presented, and most of all by something that I am quite sure would not have been heard around the table 10 years ago and that was a common concern about corruption and fighting corruption.
Corruption is a disease. I have seen it attack Indonesia where I had the privilege of being ambassador for three years. It's a threat to development everywhere in the world and I think in the past it's done enormous damage to Africa's development prospects, but to see African leaders saying it's a problem and not just saying it's problem, but doing something about it, is one of the major reasons for feeling that we are in a new era and at a turning point. (Applause.)
But then I was also enormously heartened to read the report of the Commission for Africa that Prime Minister Blair had commissioned and it's an excellent report and full of a lot of detail and it's a big heavy book. I confess I read the executive summary; that's the honest truth. (Laughter.) But what is again to me so heartening is the recognition that Africa's development is going to depend on a lot more than just official development assistance. Yes, official development assistance is important and I'm going to say more about it; it is critical, but in the past sometimes people thought it was the only answer. Today, people realize it's only part of the answer and not even the biggest part of the answer.
To be effective, it depends on performance by the recipient governments, meaning performance in combating corruption, performance in improving standards of transparency and accountability. It means, perhaps most important of all, and that's one of the reason's why I feel particularly privileged to have a chance to speak to this group, the development of the private sector in African countries, because the record of the last 50 years could not be clearer that the countries that have developed successfully have developed strong private sectors. Not every one and in all the same ways, and certainly the private the sector in China, for example, is unrecognizable compared to the private sector here, but anyone who knows the history of China will tell you it was a decisive turn when the Chinese realized they had to have a thriving private sector too. And I am seeing it starting to happen in Africa and I think activities of Corporate Council can help.
Of course, the real goal is not just foreign investment in Africa; it's domestic investment in Africa. The real goal is not just foreign corporate - corporations operating in Africa; it's African companies growing from small business to medium size business, to big businesses, but it's something that I believe will happen out of partnership and it's critical to success.
And the fourth thing that the Blair commission report recognized, was the need for trade. You could say trade, not aid. Well, a little bit of aid doesn't hurt, I was just in Burkina - let's hear it for Burkina. (Applause.) There is clearly a little Burkina (clack ?) out there. And if I could digress for a moment, one of - I could digress for a very long time if I took you through all exciting memories that I have from this trip. One thing that really struck me about Burkina was to learn - (applause) - you have got to let me finish, guys - was to learn there are 64 languages in that small country, there are major populations of both Christians and Muslims and yet the country has, as you can see back here, a strong sense of nationalism somehow over all of those ethnic and religious differences and has preserved real national unity. And President Compaoré explained it to me in terms of Burkina's centuries of history of resisting both Arab conquest and European conquest and I don't know exactly the explanation, but I do know this: that that kind of national unity and peace and harmony among ethnic groups and religious groups, is a true national treasure - an undebatable blessing.
Oil, we can - is unfortunately, can sometimes be a curse rather than a blessing. I was very encouraged at some of the comments that Mr. Watson made about his hope and my hope that African governments are going to use their oil resources wisely, but it is an incredible blessing to be able to have that kind of national unity they have in Burkina.
In any case - (applause) - yeah, thank you. So that sense from the Blair Commission that's reflected in the international community, that it - a multi-dimensional approach, if I can use that sort of World Bank term, is required to address these problems. It's not going to be done with just one single line of approach, but that encouraging the private sector, providing good conditions for the private sector and I have been delighted to learn what the World Bank private sector arm, the International Financial Corporation, has been doing, even in very small countries in Africa, to develop particularly credit facilities and particularly for small and medium sized businesses.
So I went on my first trip and I - Mr. Fountain picked out the right point: I wanted to send a message by where I went on my first trip and that was part of the reason for going. Another part of the reason for going was I have a lot to learn about Africa and there is no better way to learn than being there on the spot. And I was hoping to encounter good news, but I came away feeling that I had encountered something much more than good news: real excitement, real movement. As President Obasanjo of Nigeria said to me, Africa is a continent on the move and I sensed that in all four countries that I visited. (Applause.)
This - earlier this week, I hope some of you had a chance to watch the film, "Africa: Open for Business," which I believe the World Bank helped to produce or produced, and in there you would see several examples of entrepreneurs who are starting up new ventures and creating jobs. If you would look at the numbers on growth in Africa, you can see signs of hope: since the mid 1950's, 15 countries have seen annual GDP growth in excess of 5 percent. For several of these countries, including Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana and Senegal - let's hear it - (applause) - that higher growth has been accompanied by diversification of their economies and exports. Also, there are a few countries like Botswana and Mauritius that have succeeded in growing rapidly. (Applause.) I love it - succeeded in growing rapidly in periods in excess of three decades to become middle-income countries.
Many of you have seen this growth first hand and your investments are showing that you are putting your money where your mouth is. A report by the U.S. Trade Office last month in fact showed that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act has been a remarkable success in increasing two-way trade between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa and diversifying the range of products being traded. Exports from the 37 African countries eligible in AGOA jumped by a remarkable 88 percent in 2004 to $26.6 billion and at the same time U.S. exports to the region increased 25 percent to $8.6 billion. And African labor costs are highly competitive: a shirt costs 12 cents to manufacture in Ghana less than half of 29 cents it costs in China. Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya and Lesotho, could all produce the same shirt for under 20 cents. Those numbers are an encouraging story, but the most exciting thing for me is - are the people that I met on this trip: people from four presidencies, one of them remarkable leaders and I was privileged to have a good deal of private time with him, as well as discussions with our team.
In terms of privilege, by the way, I just have to mention, the most privileged 45 minutes of the trip for me was a chance to meet Nelson Mandela. (Applause.) He is truly an incredible human being, and when you try to tell him how incredible you think he is, he comes back at you in the spirit of this quote that I saw on his house in Sueto that I guess he said in 1970, that there is no limit to what a man can achieve as long as he doesn't give a damn who gets the credit, and you try to give him credit - (applause) - and he says, anything that's accomplished in public life is accomplished by a collective and you have to remember you are just a spokesman for the collective, but wow what a spokesman.
And it's interesting that if you think about individuals who individually change the course of history, there aren't very many and here is the one and he did it because he recognized that you don't do it all alone. It's a kind of paradox of leadership, but the man is a real leader and I think a real symbol that Africans and those of us who care about Africa need to keep in mind as we face the challenges ahead. But not just a great statesmen, not just presidents, not just ministers, although we met some very impressive ministers, one that we are particularly proud of at the World Bank because she is one of our alumni, Minister Ngozi, the finance minister in Nigeria is leading a very dynamic - (applause) - she is amazing and I guess there are people here who already know that. She is leading a very dynamic economic team that is not only implementing an ambitious program of economic reform, but perhaps even more ambitiously tackling some really tough cases of corruption and very senior officials in the Nigerian government, including a chief of police have been - are facing criminal charges over corruption. It takes both political and physical courage to do that kind of thing, but I take it all the way down to poor farmers, and school children I met whose parents were sacrificing a large fraction of their meager income so that these kids could have the benefit of a good school that was half public refunded but half private.
There are so many stories, if I am not careful I will just over use my time, but let me just mention one, that impressed me very much. It was in Rwanda. (Applause.) I think the reason there aren't more of him back there is because so many people have gone back to Rwanda to rebuild that country. I - including this women - (applause) - that I am about to tell you about. She also, by the way, is a graduate of the World Bank. Many years ago she left the bank and she has become a very successful private businesswomen, and she could have stayed in the United States quite obliviously and have a very comfortable life, and instead she went back to start a flower farm, a rose farm that is producing very high quality roses that fetch a good price on the European market. They are hard to get to market because of Rwanda's remoteness. She face's a lot of challenges because the electricity goes out periodically and she loses water or she loses refrigeration and loses 5 percent of her production, but in spite of all of that her farm is progressing. It's an impressive place. The quality of the labor force is impressive. Their enthusiasm for their work is impressive, but she herself most of all is impressive.
And I asked her why she started the business and she said well a reporter asked me that, couple of weeks ago and I will say this same thing to you I said to him. I came here to grow beautiful flowers on the ashes of genocide. It is amazing what the Rwandans are doing on the ashes of genocide: truly amazing. (Applause.) That's the kind of perseverance, hope, and determination that I saw throughout my visit.
The more I traveled through Africa in those six days the more I felt that sense of opportunity and what I would call, using American slang, a can-do attitude. You all have longer experience in Africa than I do, so you know that Africa is an exceptionally diverse continent, but the theme that unites these four very different countries is a sense of self reliance, of people who are taking charge of their future, of people who feel, that yesterday was - that today is a little better than yesterday and therefore tomorrow can be a little better than today. And that kind of realistic optimism builds confidence, builds self-reliance and I think it is one of the critical keys to progress.
As I said, the private sector I think is the most important engine of this development, but it's also clear the private sector can't do it on its own. There are critical things that have to be done by the public sector and that's the principle area where the World Bank interacts. I have visited, as you can figure, two landlocked countries, Burkina and Rwanda, where the challenges of infrastructure aren't just national, they are regional. The difficulty of getting products to market is enormous. The challenges of energy - reliable energy for that flower farm or just affordable energy for those hopeful textile factories in competitive African countries. If we manage to bring energy costs in Africa down to the level of China's, wage (bills ?) in Kenya would drop by 35 percent, in Zambia by 23 and Nigeria by 22. As entrepreneurs, you know how significant that is. So governments and donors need to increase their efforts to include the business community in policymaking decisions and to use your expertise and experience in making the right policy choices for a good business environment.
One last thing I would like to touch on and that is the challenge of trade. "Trade, not aid" is a pretty solid slogan and unfortunately in too many cases the products that Africans are producing or could produce face enormous obstacles in the international markets, including the challenge presented by highly subsidized agricultural products from the United States and Canada and Europe. I think if we are going to tackle this problem, and we must tackle this problem, we have got to tackle it on a global basis, and there is an opportunity in the Doha trade round - a challenging opportunity, but one I hope we will seize - to begin substantial reductions in subsides worldwide and reduction of the obstacles that prevent African products from getting to market. (Applause.)
Speaking for the World Bank, we stand ready to help Africa with our advice, lending, technical know how, and support. We currently are funding 334 projects in Africa worth a total of $16.6 billion. And they are (no big ?) investments. I am happy to say that today I had meeting with President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea. Those of you who know what's happened on the oil front in Equatorial Guinea might wonder why he is coming to the World Bank. He doesn't need our money anymore. I am happy to say, he came asking for our technical assistance, so they can manage their newfound wealth, manage it - (applause) - manage it according to the standards of transparency and accountability that will ensure that wealth goes to benefit the people of Equatorial Guinea and, as I said to him, I hope we can help you to set a gold standard of how a country manages its oil revenues and lets its people know what's happening to them. I think it's a terrific opportunity and I was very impressed at his leadership and his government's leadership.
We concluded our trip in South Africa and arrived there just a couple of days after - (applause). I wish I had visited 44 countries to see - (laughter) - but I would never had made it back on time for tonight, so - President Mbeki, as most of you know, had dismissed his deputy president not because the deputy president had been convicted of corruption but because his closest financial advisor had been, and as I understand it the logic was a matter of political responsibility whether or not there is legal responsibility. I don't want to get the World Bank embroiled in a South African political disagreement, but let me just say, whatever you think of President Mbeki's decision, I think you have to admire the political courage behind it and the courage to face up - (applause) - to this disease of corruption.
And so let's, especially those of us from so-called the rich countries, developed countries, let's hold a mirror up to ourselves and remember every corrupt transaction has two parties. (Applause.) If I can coin a term there is a corruptee and there is a corruptor. (Laughter, applause.) And if the African people and their leaders are stepping up to the challenge of dealing with the corruptees, we, if I can speak as a citizen of a developed country - those of us in the developed world, in fact anywhere in the world, have responsibility to address corruptors as well. And to help African countries, as the Nigerian as seeking to do now, to recover the some of the stolen wealth that is sitting in bank accounts where it doesn't belong. (Applause.)
I might just conclude with one more anecdote and there are many, many. I made a brief reference to it earlier, just outside Ouagadougou, the World Bank cooperated with the government to build the facilities for a private school, and you might wonder about private - it's a very poor village, but I was incredibly impressed at the attitude of the students first of all, but secondly even more impressed that their very poor parents, worked hard to scrape up $100 a year so those kids could go to school. It's really impressive what people around the world and people around Africa will do if they have a chance to give their children a better future. And I think the private sector has a real opportunity to extend that opportunity to so many more parents and to so many children, and I think in doing so, as I said you will not only help Africans, you will help all of us, because leaving Africa behind would be a formula for failure, but we don't have to leave Africa behind. As President Obasanjo said, Africa is on the move and it's exciting to be able to move with it.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
MR. FOUNTAIN: Thank you very much, Dr. Wolfowitz, and congratulations on your new position. We at the Corporate Council on Africa look forward to working with you, and your team at the World Bank.
Now, we will turn our - to our panel - the responses to Dr. Wolfowitz's remarks, and I would like to ask the Honorable Daniel Moroka to - who is the Minister of Trade and Industry in Botswana, he comes from the private sector where he has served as general manager, Chairman of the British - Board of British Petroleum, Zambia - (audio break) - Southern Africa for Motorola. She previously was a broadcaster and leader at the Southern African Broadcasting Companies, public broadcasting service, and Mr. Desi Lopez-Fafie managing director of Oracle's Africa operations who has led a diverse career including positions in finance and in academia. He has been at Oracle since 1993.
Would you please take your seats and I would like to turn the floor over to Minister Moroka. And ladies and gentleman the remaining part of dinner is being served and I would like your indulgence for at least the next 10 minutes.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
DANIEL MOROKA: Thank you very much. First of all let me start by congratulating Dr Wolfowitz on his appointment as the tenth president of the World Bank. Dr Wolfowitz, this morning I reached here with the congregation here, a portrait that I saw once, a portrait of a chimpanzee where there was inscribed the following: "Just as I knew all of life's answers, they change the questions." The moral of the story is that you know, quite often we as Africans - as Africa moves forward the goal posts keep on moving and we have to find new answers. It seems to me that with your undertaking to make Africa top of your list we are on our way to finding those answers.
I would just like my - to make the following comments on what you said, that in Africa there definitely is commitment to development. Africa has found African leaders through the (AU ?) have formed NEPAD and NEPAD provides a framework - a framework for the development of Africa. It is my advice to you that perhaps you should do work with NEPAD. NEPAD has got very clear objectives that have stated, very clear strategies that have been stated, and very clear expected outcomes. Whatever assistance you offer, you should try and work with NEPAD. As they identify their areas of priority, my urge to you is that you should cooperate with them in providing resources to deal with those priorities.
You did point on the need to help and develop the private sector. We cannot diversify the economies in Africa without adequate development of the private sector, as you rightly pointed out. For example, in my own country, 85 percent of the registered companies there is likely to be small, medium, to micro enterprises. These companies need to grow if they are to adequately compete with the companies from the developed world; therefore, capacity building in this particular area is very important.
You will recall, sir, that in the past the World Bank has come up with the so called economic structural adjustment programs. These programs have not left nothing but hardship for our people and it is my sincere hope that as you move on and you take on this new challenge you will work with African leaders and make sure that unlike in the past the World Bank and other donors do not actually impose things on Africans but rather they work with the Africans.
My final comment on the Blair Commission, need for trade not aid, just to urge you to exhort the developed country, to make sure that indeed the special - the playing field become leveled because what has happened is that quite often the developed countries make demands on the developing country without recognizing the asymmetry that exists. Of particular importance here is the need for making the special and differential treatment especially for the least developed countries.
Finally, sir, let me assure you that as African leaders we are committed to fighting corruptions. We have become aware that even if you are on the right track, you cannot just sit still because if you do, you run the risk of being run over.
I thank you. (Applause.)
MS. : Good evening and to you Dr Wolfowitz a very special good evening from all four countries and all other countries on the African continent.
I was particularly impressed by your opening comments about signs because Africa is a continent where signs have a deep spiritual significance, so your comments augur very well for us and the future of South Africa. In terms of the areas that I believe the World Bank should continue to be involved in, it echoes much of what you have already shared with us, but I think if we look at private sector development and the telecom industry in particular you will see a very good case study where international and external players - private sector players - have partnered with local players and delivered infrastructure and services to just about every country on the continent.
I was particularly moved by your comments on Rwanda and on an aside I think you should continue to invest money in film because if you look at a very special film that Raoul Peck has just completed called "Sometimes in April," you will see that the power of media and the power of film has a very, very particular significance not only on our continent but in every part of the world.
Another area where I think you should continue with your efforts is in the area of capacity-building in the public sector and governance in particular. With regard to your technical assistance core competency and expertise, I like what you said about knowledge because knowledge continues to be power and we need at every level to promote the brain gain. All the Africans living in the Diaspora should be encouraged to return home.
I also want to mention two other areas and that is healthcare - (applause) - healthcare and gender-based violence. I think that the work of the World Bank needs to be concentrated and continued in terms of the efforts that have been made and needs to continue in the areas of the eradication of disease, especially prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS, malaria, and we can never ever have polio creeping and sweeping across the African continent. When it comes to the eradication of violence against women and children and girl children in particular, I think a special focus needs to continue with governments in that regard.
Your comment about our president - and I am South African and so I didn't cheer from the front table, I thought that would be somewhat inappropriate - heartened me because it was one of those - one of the most historic movements in our country, post-1994, when I think just about every South African tuned in to a very special joint sitting of parliament. It was at 02:15 and when and he chose his words - President Mbeki chose his words very, very carefully when he said, "I have no option but to release you of your duties," but for women on the continent two days ago he appointed a woman as the vice president - (applause) - so that was again once again.
So I think I will just conclude to say that the program for Africa's renewal is not a beauty contest to be strutted out on the cat walks of New York, London, and Paris and I very deliberately chose those three destinations, nor at Gleneagles. It is about the interest of the ordinary African women, man and child in Dakar, Abuja, (Swane ?), (Oloquane ?), Khartoum, and Harare. (Applause.)
DESI LOPEZ-FAFIE: Dr. Wolfowitz, I would like to first of all thank you for the expectation that you have set here tonight and your commitment to Africa. When you mentioned that the way to learn the continent was to actually go there, it reminded me of something that I did six years ago when I took over our operations for Oracle in Africa when I insisted that management team meetings would take place in countries like Algeria or countries like Nigeria that typically in the early days were not considered to be the most popular places to have meetings and yet I felt that the only way that I could change the image and show that there was much more than what often people tend to see is by bringing them there. So that's, I think - I appreciate it very much that you did that.
I have actually for you two questions based on your speech. My first question is about capacity building. In all of our work across more than 50 countries in Africa, we are persistently confronted with the same problem. We would like to hire more Africans to work with Oracle and Oracle's partners in the IT sector, but we can't find enough qualified individuals and when we do find them many people leave after receiving training, going to opportunities in Europe and in the United States or Canada. We know the issue is even bigger problems for our partners in governments and that IT is vital to the success of nearly every project that is supported by the World Bank. Clearly, traditional approaches to this problem have not been successful, so we have thought about this issue. The incremental to cost of training new skilled persons is relatively low. The potential benefit is strengthening and expanding the number of our local partners and that - and the African IT sector generally could be very high.
So, Dr Wolfowitz my question is simple: we in the private sector would like to reverse the so called brain drain not in a small way, but by investing on a large scale in training, replacing the brain drain with a brain flood of young, skilled Africans working in the IT, so will you join us and when can we start working together?
My second question is about the success of Africa and more specifically the success stories. I know that you are very committed to the success of Africa. You chose to take your first step as the World Bank president to the continent and again I salute you for that. Obviously, we share your enthusiasm for the continent. Still, there are too many negative images about Africa not only in the press, but also in the minds of the people and companies around the world. The images come into play even when I want to expand Oracle's very successful business on the continent and though I am proud to say we are expanding significantly in hiring both local people and putting in offices.
Mr. Wolfowitz, I believe we need to share more of the success stories from around the continent, examples of World Bank funds that have been very well spent and examples of countries and companies that have found recipes for this success. People in Africa and around the world need to know how government can become more efficient, more transparent and how this makes the lives of people better by making room for more schools, for more hospitals, and for better services. So why aren't we capturing the successes of the World Bank projects as part of every project? What can we do together to get these success stories out to the world?
Thank you. (Applause.)
MR. WOLFOWITZ: Should I comment? Okay. A lot of thoughtful comments. Let me try to cover as many as I can quickly. First of all on NEPAD and more generally on the regional structures in Africa, it's a very exciting development. The day after we met President Mbeki, he was heading to Abuja in Nigeria to meet with the NEPAD heads of government to do the first so called peer reviews where the governments have agreed to submit themselves to assessment of their performance on pretty regular standards by their peers. And they had just completed the reviews for Ghana. Let's hear it for Ghana - (applause) - and for Rwanda. And it's an impressive set of standards including, as I understand it, things like freedom of the press and freedom of the press is about more than just the press: it's about holding officials and governments accountable. I think it's a critical part of sustainable development.
Anyway, NEPAD is a new organization, as you said. It's still finding its feet. One of the challenges for us at the World bank and in the development community is to figure out if there is a way that we can do some of our work with these regional organizations instead of just with countries. As you probably know, and if you don't know you can guess, the comfortable relationship for donors, whether its governments or multilateral institutions, is with individual governments who can make loan guarantees and so forth. We need to figure out some mechanisms to deal with multiple governments and it's particularly critical when you look at something like the transportation infrastructure in a region like West Africa. You simply can't tackle it on a national basis.
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Your observation about telecom investment - I saw that. We saw that in Burkina, where there has been a very successful privatization of the telecom sector and very successful regulatory setup. It seems to me to be a model for other things that small country might do. I saw it in Rwanda. I have to tell you, in Rwanda the most impressive thing to me, though, was three very successful American businessman who had come to Rwanda more in philanthropic spirit than business spirit because they seem to have - be into their second or third retirements as far as I could tell at the age of 36 - you know the type. So three companies already, but they were commenting that they just felt they could do a much better job at delivering an affordable product to the Rwandan people than was presently available. And as one of them said, at 25 cents a minute no one could make a business succeed. We got to make it cheaper and more available and I was struck at their enthusiasm for the Rwandans they had met and worked with and their belief that they can train - they can build a company that's 95 percent Rwandan. And I suppose you will tell me and then they will get hired away, maybe by Oracle, though. (Laughs.)
Film - absolutely, and I think its part of the answer to his question about success stories. I not only saw "One day in April," but I saw "Hotel Rwanda." The people in Rwanda complain a little bit, you know "Hotel Rwanda" is a little romanticized. It was much worse than that. Okay, but people watch the movie. I will tell you, it makes a point and it's fantastic.
It is a lot - well, let me get to the success story point at the end. There is no question that knowledge development is the most important thing. Investment in people when they are still at an age to learn, which is to say young people, is incredibly important. If you do it right, it pays back for 50, 60 years. If you miss that opportunity, you have a lost generation and I think it's got to be critical.
I think the African Diaspora is a fantastic asset and we do need to figure out how to make better use of it. It was, as I said, very encouraging in Rwanda to see so many people coming back. I asked one man who was a rector of an educational institution why he had come back, and he said "In 1994." And I said, "No, I wasn't asking when; I was asking why." And without any hesitation he said, "Because I wanted to make a difference," and he is making a difference.
On the plane, we met a Nigerian-American who had come here with $2,000 to his name, built a company here in the United States and sold it for a mind boggling number and he is going back to Nigeria to work on private enterprise, but most of all to help build his native country. I think the more we can do to mobilize this asset of Nigerian-Americans and not just in the United States and the UK and in many countries. People who have had the privilege of working in a system that works, with the talents that are all over Africa, and go back and help people create systems that work there because its not the individual human material that's usually the challenge; it's the system. And we have seen that: just look at North Korea and South Korea - same people, same culture, same language, completely different systems. That's the challenge.
Particularly on your point about the importance of women and dealing with gender based violence, I made a point with my staff as we were preparing for this trip. We had, thanks to modern technology, we had video conferences with each of the missions in each of the four countries and I said I want to meet with women's groups when I am there because I want to learn about their problems and I also believe that you - when a so-called important person comes, it empowers people if you pay attention to them. And with the best of intentions, I would often get an answer back because after all the schedule was crowded and they really didn't want to add another event. Well, we are meeting this woman who runs a flower farm, we were meeting this minister who is a woman, or - and I said I am not just interested in meeting individual successful women. I want to meet groups - meet with groups that represent the special problems and interests of women. And we did it in every place and it was a moving story in every place. Even - perhaps, I don't know if it is surprising or not, but even in little Burkina, landlocked little Burkina, there are women's groups organized to fight women's circumcision, there women's groups organize to deal with HIV/AIDS.
But of all the anecdotes I could tell one of the ones that made a deep, deep impression, on me was in a small Muslim village in Northwestern Burkina in the extremely arid dry area where the people benefited from a reservoir and a well that the World Bank had helped to fund. And I was introduced to the person who was going to guide me through the village and I was told she had been elected secretary of the village, I guess because she had taught herself to read and write. Her writing was like someone who would had learned to write as an adult; a little irregular. But I asked her, "Is it difficult for a woman in a Muslim village to be elected secretary of the village?" And unhesitatingly and proudly, she said, "There is no way we can develop if women don't have equal rights." I agree with her 100 percent.
And, by the way, that's not imposing a Western notion of how society should operate. There are many different ways to operate, but I think it is just almost like two plus two equals four. If half your population is held back, then half your country is being held back. It just is not a way you can possibly develop fully.
On the health issues I was - they're inescapable. They're horrible. I was pleased to hear mention malaria because in Burkina, again, it's a much bigger killer than HIV. They are both killers and let's work to keep polio from becoming another one. And I think, I guess, I am happy to work with you on anything we can do to reverse that brain drain.
One thing, by the way, we are going to work with the Rwandans and perhaps others. We had a very successful project in Sri Lanka called E-Lanka, to build a fiber backbone for their IT network and I am assuming if we do the same kind of thing in Rwanda and we undertook to make a study of it, that that can provide not just a physical backbone but the sort of backbone that encourages young Rwandans to learn the business. And it is a teachable business and that's great, and then people start teaching themselves.
Finally, on this point about success stories. One thing that's being growing on me is an impression, and it really hit me as a conclusion at the end of this trip, is with the best of intentions I think too many people are selling Africa based on its needs. The stories about HIV/AIDS are heartrending. The stories about poverty are heartrending and people need to hear them, but if that's all they hear they may throw in some nickels or quarters to provide food or medicine, but they will go away saying the place is hopeless.
In my last job, the two countries in sub-Saharan Africa I dealt with the most, it won't surprise you, were Somalia and Liberia; not ones to inspire you with the sense that Africa is on the move. Hopefully someday they too will be brought along. Unfortunately, bad news makes news. Good news is harder to tell, but that is no reason for us not to do everything we can to tell the good news. Good films can help. I really do believe that. They have to have a love interest and a little bit of intrigue, but they could tell some good stories in the process. And groups like this help get the story out. You can't wholesale success, I am afraid, but you can retail it and let's just keep retailing it together.
Thank you. (Applause.)
MR. FOUNTAIN: Well, I would like to thank the panel for participating in this event and especially thank Dr. Wolfowitz for joining us this evening. If his first three weeks is any indication of what the next 257 weeks hold, then I think Africa is going to be all right and I think the World Bank is certainly going to play its role.
So thank you very much and we appreciate your coming. Thank you very much.
