Lucky Fiakpa
22 April 2008
Accra, Ghana — Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Mr Ban Ki-moon, has expressed regret over Africa's inability to fully experience the benefits of globalisation, especially increased trade and investment.
Trade and investment, he said, are some of the surest drivers of long-term growth and human development, but regrettably, Africa's share of trade and investment languishes at a mere three per cent.
Ban Ki-moon, who stated this yesterday at the on-going UNCTAD XII, Accra, Ghana, said a sure way to boost Africa's share of trade and investment within the global economy is by "ensuring a rapid breakthrough in the Doha Round, one that incorporates a significant development component."He would also want increased South-south exchanges, greater foreign direct investment, enterprise-development, and crucial infrastructure advances facilitated through Aid for Trade.
He also wants African governments to make some efforts to help the situation. According to him, African governments that are benefiting from the current boom in commodities prices should increase spending on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and promote broad-based development.
Ban Ki-moon also believes international donors can help African countries navigate this path through increases in Official Development Assistance - increases that have been pledged, but have not so far been forthcoming.
Earlier in his speech during the opening ceremony, the UN Secretary General had noted that the global boom has passed them by and their strategies for development have failed.
"We cannot leave the 'bottom billion' to flounder. We cannot neglect their real and pressing needs. We need fresh thinking, fresh approaches. Nowhere is the global challenge of economic disenfranchisement more acute than in Africa," he said.
President John Agyekum Kufuor, of Ghana, in his own speech noted that although there are no specific standards, of all time, to fix the African problem, he, however, believes a South-south co-operation would be more like it.
He mentioned the Brazil-African forum and the India-African forum as some of the South-south relationships that have shown some positive indicators of ameliorating the African problem.
"I believe that this trend towards South-south co-operation should be encouraged to break the continuing North-south dependency development strategy, which in the first place, led to the creation of UNCTAD," Kufuor said.
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