Laurence Ani
11 June 2009
Cape Town — As the 19th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa opened yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa, Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the global economic meltdown had further thrown a staggering 53 million people into poverty around the world. Sixty per cent of that figure is in Africa, she said.
But despite the painful effects of the economic slowdown, the crisis, according to her, still presented a remarkable opportunity for African countries to fast track growth in their economies. Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's former finance minister, who is a co-chair of the Forum, observed that African countries were growing at an average of five per cent even before the crisis.
"So I think the issue has been how African countries can sustain that momentum in this time of crisis. Africa cannot afford to be seen as a victim in this crisis," she said.
She stressed the imperative of investing in agriculture and for Africa to inspire its own growth stimulus to survive the crisis. "The crisis should not be seen as a challenge, but as an opportunity," she added.
Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke at the opening press conference along with the Forum's other co-chairs, Jiang Jianqing, board chairman of China's Industrial and Commercial Bank and Soud Ba'alawy, Executive Chairman of Dubai Group, said agriculture held a huge potential for Africa's economic breakthrough.
"Agriculture helps to bring people out of poverty faster," she said, adding that such optimism is fuelled both by the fact that foreign investors had lately been showing much interest in investing in commercial agriculture in Africa and also because studies reveal a substantial part of the continent's agricultural resources remain untapped.
According to her, "For instance, in Nigeria, only a mere 14 per cent of arable land is being used at present."
The World Bank, she said, had "more than doubled" its investment in Africa in recent time especially in agriculture. But there was cautious optimism expressed by the media about the World Bank's commitment to truly develop African economies especially in relation to linking aids and grants to what is considered stifling conditions.
In reaction to that, she said: "We have gone beyond imposition of conditions or what you call 'strings attached'. What we tend to do now is simply work within the context of programmes or reforms as drawn up by individual countries."
On what she thinks African countries need to do to increase its competitive edge at the global marketplace, she said: "Africa needs to improve its infrastructure to make it more competitive. There is also the need to improve on governance institutions."
Yesterday's opening session also featured the launch of the African Competitiveness Report 2009. The report reflects the research efforts of three institutions - the WEF, the African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.
The report which ranked Nigeria 10th highlighted the problems posed by limited access to financial services for African businesses. This represents an improvement on last year's report where Nigeria was not listed among the first 10.
Tunisia, which was ranked highest by the 2008 report, still retained the first position in the 2009 report.
African businesses, according to the report, could increase its competitive edge, but their governments and their international partners would need to improve access to finance, resist pressure to erect trade barriers, upgrade infrastructure, improve healthcare and educational systems and strengthen institutions.
Limited access to financial services remains a major obstacle for African enterprises, but underdeveloped infrastructure, limited healthcare and educational services, and poor institutional frameworks also make African countries less competitive in the global marketplace.
The report also points to a number of success stories in the region that highlight steps countries could take to improve the business environment.
The WEF closes tomorrow.
Meanwhile, former United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former Mozambican First Lady Graca Machel have said Africa will continue to need aid.
But they also said the continent had the potential to become a net food and energy exporter and to boost inter-continental trade.
Speaking under the aegis of the Africa Progress Panel (APP) chaired by Annan, the leaders called on African heads of state to turn the current global economic meltdown into an opportunity for the continent on the basis of shared responsibility with their international partners.
They maintained that the financial crisis had underscored Africa's vulnerability, notwithstanding a decade of solid progress, APP said at the launch of its annual report yesterday.
The key conclusion of the report is that Africa needs to drive its own development agenda as the basis for partnership and shared responsibility for progress.
"The global economic crisis can serve as a wake-up call for both African leaders and their international partners," the panel said.
"Africa has transformed in my lifetime and the progress reached so far is proof that concrete achievements are possible amidst adversity," Annan said.
"The economic, climate change and food security crises are all linked. They cannot be tackled separately.
"We need a new development model that provides security, stability, and addresses people's needs. Everyone needs to contribute.
"Business has a key role, as do Africa's trading and donor partners. But the primary responsibility to make it happen rests with Africa's political leaders," Annan said.
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Dear Readers , There is a climate in America and the financial world that secretly has been
"cooking the books" while they rob us. For example most financial information that is
reported only focuses on "The Budget ". A Budget is the amount of money we would
need to run our household on a specific time schedule (e.g. weekly budget, monthly
budget, yearly budget ).
When they tell us they have a "Budget Deficit ", they are actually saying they don't have
enough money for the specific period the Budget is supposed to cover. There is a more
complete financial picture that many of us are kept from seeing. This picture is called "
THE COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT ".
People like WALTER BURIEN & ALEX JONES exposed the schemes that have been
going on since 1945 in America alone !!! For more information do a search using
" The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Exposed "..On YouTube Alex Jones &
Walter Burien share a documentary that they did in the 1990s.
[http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=The+Comprehensive +Annual+Financial+Report+Exposed+]
[God Bless You Readers To Want To Know And Seek To Know The Truth]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] / [http://alexjonesringtones.net/]
WAKE UP ! STAY UP MY BROTHERS & SISTERS ! BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
- Life Is a Game. Have Fun. [ Luke 18:17 / Isaiah 11:6 ]
Empty rhetoric served with some “Tea n Crumpets” to butter up their palliative measures that go no further beyond the conference halls in which they were spoken. How many of these “panel discussions” that soothe but never cure our pain have we heard in the last 50 years? What are their impacts on the ground? None. Perhaps they better the lots of the selected “Welfare Kings and Queens” of Africa that these panels of talking heads represent with their caps-in-hand begging for more from the master’s table. But for how long would the crumbs last before what is given is yanked away if they step out of line. As a Chinese proverb says “…teach me how to fish and you feed me for a life time….” The West would rather rob us in daylight and hand out crumbs to our poor from what they looted from us. Case in point – Shell paid $15.5 Million to the victims of Niger Delta attrocities to settle their suit out of court. How generous!!! Whereas, last year, Shell smashed all-time British company profit records by posting a 2007 earnings of $27.5Billion(£13.9billion), according to www.dailymail.co.uk/news /article-511387 Shells-obscene-13-9billion-profit-biggest-British-company. A mere $15.5 million are peanuts for the richest company in the world because nothing can compensate the 500,000 Ogoni people for generations of devastating pollution, human rights abuses and persecution. According to Chris Khan of AP News, “…altogether, the settlement will have a negligible effect on Shell's shareholders, amounting to less than one-hundredth of a percent of Shell's annual revenue. It's comparable to the annual cost of renting one of the supertankers that Shell uses to deliver Nigerian oil to other countries." The tragedy of the deltans still living in polluted squallor today & tomorrow while YarAdua continues to bomb their babies and mothers out of existence while the world says "use reasonable force" wink-wink, hook-hook. As long as the crude oil keeps flowing north of the equator.
You are right on the mark...the crumbs for Africa and this never ending while all these eminent personalities have fattened bank accounts and their brothers and sisters are in the slums accross Africa. What a sham and what a shame
The absolutely best thing the West can do for Africa, is IMMEDIATELY STOP ALL AID, not one more penny for Africa!
Let AFricans learn how to stop breeding like rabbits, and they will be less poor, becuase they will not have so many fighting over finite resources.
Africans must wake up to REALITY, and liberals and the West must stop feeding them like they are moron imbeciles, too stupid to Wake Up! If you care about Africa and Africans TELL THEM THE TRUTH! STOP BREEDING LIKE YOU ARE SAVAGES ON VIAGRA! YOU CAN BE HUMANS, YOU CAN PROCREATE FROM LOVE, AND COMPASSION FOR CHILDREN, AND HAVE ONE CHILD, ONLY AND LOVE IT, AND NURTURE IT. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BREED LIKE SAVAGES ON VIAGRA, AND TREAT YOUR CHILDREN LIKE ECONOMIC AND SES SLAVES AND CANNON FODDER!
Africans must wake up and The West, must stop playing Poverty Pimp, and enabling AFricans entitlement and laziness.
Bob Geldoff and Kofi Annan and all these Poverty Pimps could not care one wit for Africa and Africans... all they care about is how they can use the AFrican poor, to improve htier own Status as Poverty Pimps, while they pretend to care. They don't give a damn.
Sign the HARTSSTARH petition, and you will do something to help Africa WAKE UP, AND START ACTING LIKE HUMANS, NOT SAVAGES ON VIAGRA!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/hartsstarh
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