Washington, DC — K.Y. Amoako, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and a member of the Commission on Capital Flows to Africa, addressed the U.S.-Africa Business Summit on the commission's ten-year plan for increasing capital flows to Africa.

Let me begin by thanking Stephen Hayes and the members of the Corporate Council on Africa for their support of the Commission on Capital Flows to Africa and for inviting us here today. I would also like to extend my personal thanks and deep appreciation to Jim Harmon, who put a great deal of time and energy into this Commission. I have first hand experience with trying to get lots of people to agree on a common final report, and I know that it is not easy. More seriously, Jim has put his heart and soul into this effort, and in doing so he is supporting the work that all of us do, and the aspirations that we all share.

I would like to speak briefly today from an African perspective. From my vantage point as an African, and also as the Executive Secretary of the U N Economic Commission for Africa, this Report is being issued at a critical moment. The issues addressed in this Report - trade liberalization, capacity building, debt, development assistance, privatization, infrastructure development - are the issues that dominate economic debate across the continent today.

Importantly, the Report stresses that we in Africa have to fulfill our share of the bargain, and makes clear that capital flows will not increase unless and until the environment is attractive and the conditions are conducive to private investment. This is something on which we agree. Earlier this month the Economic Commission for Africa hosted the annual conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. The ministers reiterated, right up front in the final statement of the conference, the central importance of improving governance, of pursuing sound economic policies, of budget discipline and public expenditure management, and of the reform of regulatory frameworks and competition policies.

We also stressed the centrality of mutual accountability pointing not only to the need for the developed world to increase its investments, but also for Africa to ensure that those investments are viable. This notion of mutual accountability guides NEPAD, and is also, and importantly, captured in the Commission's Report.

Most important, however, is that the Commission's Report focuses on private capital flows. We all believe that ODA is important, and we will continue to urge that donors increase their assistance. But ODA is aid. ODA is designed to help us. Trade, and increased capital flows, are aimed at empowering us. And that is what we seek - the power to engage in the global market on a fair and increasingly equal footing, and to unleash the creativity and power of our private sectors in order to bring an end to poverty.

An Ethiopian friend of mine was at a meeting some time ago when one of the donors commented that the world might grow bored with having to "save" Africa. He warned that the wealthy nations might develop what he called "compassion fatigue." This is, indeed, a risk. But from the African perspective, it is also important to understand that we are at risk of developing what my friend called "beggar's fatigue."

None of us wants to beg for aid dollars, or even for more investment. But if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goals; if we are to have a hope of competing in a new global order, then we must fulfill our side of the partnership with donors and with the private sector.

And I believe that the Commission's work will help that cause. Let me briefly address what I believe to be the key recommendations:

First, that the Commission recommends a ten-year strategy and indeed a ten-year period during which Africa can benefit from specific trade preferences and advantages - is extremely important. Similar efforts to provide special access have greatly benefited other regions of the world. But also, in this case, that ten-year window provides those of us in Africa with an incentive. If all of the Commission's recommendations are implemented, Africa stands to gain a dramatic increase in capital flows over the next decade. This fact, I believe, can spur us on in our efforts to remove the remaining barriers to trade and investment and to make further improvements to the investment climate.

Second, the Commission's call for increased trade liberalization, and specifically the extension and expansion of AGOA, is of enormous importance to Africa. AGOA has been an important and impressive first step - taking it to the next stage will, I believe, inspire more investors to consider Africa, and more African producers to take advantage of AGOA benefits.

Third, we in Africa are well aware of the fact that one of the major constraints we face is the size of our markets. It is for this reason that regional organizations are being revitalized and reorganized, and efforts redoubled to create regional markets. The possibility of a free trade agreement, which the Commission recommends, is an incentive, and could encourage us to make even more progress, more quickly.

Fourth, and as African ministers agreed at our recent conference in Addis Ababa, the recommendation that agricultural subsidies be reduced and ultimately removed is one that impacts the vast majority of Africa's producers. If Africa could freely compete in the agricultural sector, literally millions of women and men could abandon their dependence on aid, improve the lives of their families, revitalize Africa's rural sector, and contribute significantly to the global economy. I realize that this is a tricky issue in the United States, and I welcome the Commissioners willingness to address it head on.

Fifth, I of course welcome the Commission's recommendations on debt, and particularly its endorsement of the International Conference on African Debt that my organization, the Economic Commission for Africa, will convene in early 2004. While we agree that HIPC has had a positive impact, and believe that it proves that debt relief is a valuable tool for financing development, the African ministers meeting in Addis Ababa earlier this month all agreed that it has not led to debt sustainability. We therefore believe that we, as Africans, must generate viable and meaningful proposals for measures that can build on HIPC and ultimately lead to sustainability. The purpose of the conference will be to develop those proposals, and then to engage the international community on next steps.

You may have noticed that debt was one of the issues on which not all of the Commissioners agreed. I was one of the dissenters. In fact, dissent may not be the appropriate term: all of the Commissioners agreed that we should be bold in addressing Africa's debt crisis, but some of us wanted to be bolder than others.

There are many other valuable recommendations in the Commission's report, and I am pleased that I was asked to serve on the Commission and contribute to what I hope will be a blueprint for the U.S., the G8, and OECD governments over the coming months. And why I appreciate the Chairman's commitment to including Africans on the Commission, I think it is important to close with one salient fact. The energy behind this Commission, the financing, and in fact the idea came from the U.S. private sector. This is something which, frankly, gives me hope. For while I believe that the Chairman and all of the American Commissioners care deeply about Africa, I also believe that the impetus for creating this Commission was the belief that it makes good business sense to invest in Africa's future. This alone should give all of us hope and confidence.

In closing, let me say that it is my sincere hope, as an individual and as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, that the U.S., the G8, and other members of the OECD will seriously consider implementing the Commission on Capital Flows to Africa's recommendations. I am confident that it is the right thing to do.

Thank you.