Addis Ababa — African leaders, thinkers and civil society activists were on Wednesday invited by Michael D. Higgins, President of the Republic of Ireland, to produce alternative models of development that are socially, culturally and ethically grounded.
The evolving global order presents Africans with many opportunities and challenges but ones which - if met with effective and concerted policies at the regional and global levels - can lead to positive socio-economic transformation. "Today Africa is at a critical juncture of its development. The discourse is shifting away from war and disadvantage to debates about human progress and sustainable development," said President Higgins.
The Irish president was addressing an audience, which included Carlos Lopes, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission (ECA), dignitaries, the diplomatic corps and ECA staff.
Alternative development models should take into account the formidable challenges Africa faces. Chief among them is food security, which will gain more prominence in view of projected demographic trends in Africa - the population on the continent is expected to double, reaching 50 billion individuals by 2050 - and of the detrimental impacts of climate change.
"Africans should imagine and craft inclusive agricultural development policies that are grounded in a recognition of the need to feed an expanding regional population, while also taking care of a fragile and exhaustible natural environment, and taking on board the heritage of indigenous wisdom and wealth practices and conceptions that connect people to their land."
Resource-endowed countries that depend on, and have over the last few years benefited greatly from increases of the price of, exported primary commodities should revisit the system of rents and ask whether the latter could be relied upon as engine of growth and development.
President Higgins also added that Africa could seize the opportunities afforded her by global value chains. "Africa will achieve inclusive economic growth by developing effective industrial policies and commodity-based industrialization."
He also saluted African-led efforts to stop the spread of the Ebola pandemic, which threatens to reverse recent economic gains by the continent. "The focus you are applying to finding solutions to this terrible crisis is appreciated far and wide, beyond the region and beyond the continent."
President Higgins announced that Ireland and Kenya had been appointed by the United Nations to facilitate the international negotiations on the new global development agenda. "This leadership role is both a great honor and a huge challenge for Ireland. I can assure you that we will do our best to foster an agenda that is both faithful to the greatest hopes of the founding fathers of African independence and unity, and responsive to the requirements of our acknowledged interdependence in this new century."
Ireland would remain committed to the African continent and that relationships with African countries had long formed an important strand of the country's foreign policy. The significance of this relationship was only increasing owing to current pressing challenges, such as climate change, food security and the fate of refugees and asylum seekers.
For his part, ECA Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes said that it was important to notice that Ireland was a partner that understood key challenges Africa faced and the issues at the heart of the economic transformation debates on the continent. On the issue of refugees, M. Lopes acknowledged President Higgins's statement that Europeans had formed the bulk of migrants across the world over the last century. "Migration, whether from Africa to the rest of the world and for reasons of failed governance should not be criminalized," he said.
President Higgins is on an African tour, which starts in Ethiopia and will see him visit Malawi and South Africa.
