Cape Town — Dialogue between the public and private sectors in Africa is not only more possible but more necessary than ever before, Maurice Tempelsman, chairman of the board of directors of the Corporate Council on Africa, told the opening of the CCA's U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. Tempelsman is also chairman of Lazare Kaplan International Inc., a diamond cutting and polishing company.
It is my great privilege formally to welcome you all to this historic gathering—-the first of the Corporate Council on Africa's regular biennial summits to be held on African soil.
And although we are at the southernmost tip of the continent, the embrace of our hosts; the beauty of both the land and its people; the vibrancy of its spirit; all these confirm that we are , indeed , on African soil. Thank you, Cape Town, for hosting us here, where South Africa began its unique and extraordinary journey in democracy with Nelson's Mandela's first steps to freedom—-a journey that, while not easy, has defied the cynics and the skeptics and thus symbolizes, to my mind, the broader journey on which the continent as a whole has set course.
Of that journey, as many others, women are the unsung heroes ; and in extending our thanks I would like to acknowledge and honor one such woman, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who heads the host country's delegation. Those of us lucky to know her can testify to her public forcefulness when circumstances demand it; but we appreciate her most as somebody who, without pomp and often without publicity, simply gets things done. She helped get this summit done, and for that among many other things, Madame Deputy President, we are most grateful. I must also single out South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry, the Honorable Mandisi Mpahlwa, for his extraordinary support.
My responsibility this evening is to do no more than set the stage; and in that context I think I owe it to this audience to cast my gaze briefly back towards history – the history out of which the Corporate Council emerged and ultimately became what it is today, the pre-eminent body that speaks for those who generate nine-tenths of U.S. investment in Africa.
As all in this audience will know, Africa's independence was born during the Cold War, and in many ways became hostage to that broader geopolitical saga. There were many sides to this saga, of course, but among them were opposed systems of economic governance – one which encouraged private capital accumulation and investment, the other which reserved those vital functions to the state. In the abstract this debate was a serious and indeed a legitimate one, made weightier by those other, vital, sometimes contradictory human impulses that too often escape the economist's models – the impulse to justice, to equality, to freedom, to social order. But the lives of people, and of nations, are not lived in the abstract, and we know the clear verdict of history on this particular economic debate –with all the qualifications and caution – with all the humility – one must bring to any historical verdict.
I mention the need for humility because with the end of the Cold War came an era of what I would call market triumphalism – a belief that free markets and free trade would not only prevail, but provide answers to many if not all of the messy questions that had bedevilled political life in previous times. And let me make my view perfectly clear : the achievements of markets, and their potential to harness human energies and human imperfections alike, are extraordinary; they are enduring; and they remain fundamental , not only to the logic of modern economic growth, and indeed to the logic of modern life as a whole – they are fundamental also to our efforts to alleviate poverty, expand opportunity, and extend the benefits of modern life to all the world's citizens. The recognition of these fundamentals – the recognition that in today's world private initiative and private capital surpass the importance of public initiative and public capital in recycling savings, investment and resources around the globe – this recognition helped give rise to the Corporate Council on Africa some fourteen years ago, and remains a motive force as it grows from strength to strength.
But we at the Corporate Council would also be the first to acknowledge that free markets cannot provide an answer to everything, or even to most things – to acknowledge that the laws of politics, in all their complexity and sometimes confusion – have not been, and cannot be, repealed by the abstract laws of economic logic. We could not fail to acknowledge this, focussed as we are on a continent that contains within it the fullest measure of human complexity, human possibility, and human reality. Africa has from its origins been a mentor to humanity; and I think it today continues to educate us, among many other things, on the balance between theory and practicality.
So I see, and I welcome, an emerging maturity of vision, where government's proper and essential role in ordering social and political affairs is aligned with the private sector's dynamic role in creating wealth and leveraging entrepreneurial energy. Economics is the realm where these spheres most obviously overlap, but it is hardly the only one, nor is it is as easy as it once was to distinguish where economics ends and other disciplines begin – if "disciplines" is itself even the right word anymore. In this fluid context, fruitful dialogue between the public and private sectors is not only more possible than ever before, it is all the more necessary. And thus I am a true believer in the value of institutions like the Corporate Council which exist to sponsor such dialogue, and of gatherings such as this one to give expression to it.
This summit in particular comes at a time not only of maturing vision, but also of maturing relations between Africa and the rest of the world, America included. A fresh generation of leadership on this continent, embodied in so many of the men and women around the room, is ensuring that Africa's fate is no longer hostage to strategic calculation in faraway foreign capitals, but hostage instead to the wisdom – and sometimes, it must be said, lack of wisdom, here as much as on any other continent – of decisions in the houses of state, houses of justice, and, yes, the houses of commerce too, here at home. (From personal history I know all too well that among the things that come with real independence is the inability to blame others for your own mistakes.) Nor, to the extent foreign political capitals matter – and of course they do, just as foreign financial capital does – are they all the same as they once were. The rise of new powers, from China to India to Brazil to those in Africa as well, creates obvious challenges to the United States and opportunities for Africa – but also, I would argue, subtler challenges to Africa and opportunities for my own country. We are all in uncharted waters, and as a long-time sailor, I am familiar with the fine balance between anticipation and apprehension that this brings.
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Taking this summit from its normal confines within American borders – taking it to this continent, at this time – is therefore not only the right thing to do, it is the wise thing to do. Thanks to technology, Africans and Americans can now deal with one another largely unconfined by the old divisions of time and distance. Thanks to current history, including the unfolding history of Africa's emergence, we can also now deal with one another free of the old distortions of ideology or geopolitical conformity. As a businessman I know there is much that we can gain from one another. As a human being I know there is much that we can learn from one another.
It does not fall to me, nor would I presume in any event for an audience of this caliber , to provide some laundry list for mutual success in our dealings, or even of issues to be mutually addressed in our dialogue. One look at the program of themes and workshops on offer at this summit demonstrates that the organizers and sponsors have done a salutary job in putting us on track. I offer you only our collective welcome as an organization, my personal thanks for your participation, and my confidence that we will do good work and enjoy ourselves in equal measure over the next 48 hours.
