Cape Town — African finance ministers had to be vigilant in holding developed nations to their commitments to the continent, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said yesterday.

These commitments include the pledge by the Group of Eight industrialised countries to double aid to Africa by 2010 and a multilateral debt relief initiative that vows to wipe out foreign debt in poor countries.

In speeches to the annual meeting of the board of governors of the African Development Bank in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Manuel said African countries had to demonstrate "a boldness of vision, quality of planning and resolute determination" to use resources effectively.

He said conditions both in Africa and in the global economy to enhance growth and alleviate poverty were positive.

"It is critical that we ensure that the current growth path of more than 5% is sustained over the next few years, and that this growth be attained by non-oil- exporting countries."

Manuel said Africa needed to develop a clear growth strategy for each country and focus on the constraints that prevented them growing faster.

One of the constraints that needed urgent attention was the plight of the poor and the often nonexistent links between African countries.

Manuel said high tariffs and other barriers to trade and investment should be removed to boost intra-African trade.

"Given the small size of our domestic markets, our development prospects are greatly enhanced if we facilitate trade across national boundaries, create integrated energy markets, support regional water resources management, and develop the private sector so that they can also invest in regional infrastructure," he said.

Manuel said African countries also needed to correct the balance between the social and productive sectors by scaling up investment in infrastructure.

"Our (infrastructure investment) levels are far too low to support the magnitude of growth and development that our continent needs."

Poor infrastructure was the primary constraint on expansion and the key variable informing investor perceptions, Manuel said.