June 14, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1424

DURBAN: The losers in this world are those who are excluded from globalization and Africa stands the risk of being left out, Norway’s Minister of International Development, Hilde Frafjord Johnson warned on Thursday.

Addressing the plenary session of the World Economic Forum — Africa Economic Summit 2003 taking place in Durban, South Africa, Johnson said it was important not to overlook Africa, while the focus was on Iraq.

She accused the developed world of not delivering on the promises made towards Africa particularly with regards to trade and debt relief. “Changes are taking place on the aid front, but more slowly than hoped for. And direct foreign investment flows to Africa are not yet at appropriate levels,” she said.

The session focussed on Africa’s response to global challenges and how the global financial uncertainty and slow or stagnant growth in the leading economies limit the opportunity to bridge the development divide.

Participants discussed the ‘war against terror’ and how the recent regime change in Iraq has further displaced spending from development to defence and security. “These developments impact on Africa’s efforts to achieve integration into the global economy, market access and foreign investment flows,” the founder and president of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab told the meeting.

According to Schwab, the future does not exclusively belong to the G8 countries, but to a G20 which would include at least 10 developing countries. “But this is a world entering a period of deflation leading to low growth; a world that has to address the issues of terrorism, security and nation building; and a world in the midst of a dramatic technological revolution,” he said.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said Africa needed to respond to global challenges by coming up with African solutions. “Africa cannot be ignored. If the continent is excluded from the world’s economic advance then that exclusion can backfire. For example, if the developed world don’t deal with the AIDS crisis then how will they prevent it from spreading to the developing world. The so-called ‘mega powers’ need to understand that they cannot live in isolation and stomp on the poorer countries of the world because they will suffer the consequences,” he warned.

Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, Chairperson of FSB International Bank in Nigeria told the forum that Africa was facing different kinds of terrors which were poverty, ignorance and disease.

“With 95 per cent of the world’s population growth projected to be in developing countries, Africa could face a scenario of overcrowded cities and a deteriorating environment. But as most people live in market economies today, governments cannot continue as owners of assets. Their role has to be the development of an environment conducive to business. They must embrace the market economy,” he said.

However, Sam Jonah, Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana and co-chairperson of the Africa Economic Summit said the real fear was that the new global political and economic environment may lead to a greater marginalization of Africa unless the continent itself undergoes some strategic and vital changes.

“Over the past eight years only two per cent of the global Foreign Direct Investment has gone to Africa. And the financial losses because of changes in the terms of trade have been greater than all the aid and investment flows the continent has received,” he said.

Jonah painted a picture of a world in which more is spent each day on subsidies to feed each cow in the United States or the European Union than the two dollars spent on feeding individual Africans.

He said that Africans themselves are also not making a sufficient effort to encourage intra-African trade. He added that 30 per cent of Africa’s savings were owned by Africans but deposited abroad so environments had to be created to encourage them to return their money and invest in the continent.

“Often in Africa we have coup d’etats which lead to the confiscation of businesses without any legal process. For as long as this continues to persist, Africa will remain politically stigmatized,” he said.

“African politicians need to see that successful businesses are not a threat to their power but are complimentary to that power. If we don’t clean up our shop, no one will do it for us. Our problems have to do with our political leadership. If businessmen are seen to be independent, the politicians’ tendency is to crush them. The disease is about self-seeking interests rather than helping fellow Africans. For example we have ethnic conflicts encouraged by leaders who use them to cling to power,” he added.

The African Economic Summit, which kicked off on Wednesday, is focussing on harnessing the power of partnership in developing Africa. It is being attended by African government officials, the business community, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups.

Over the past 13 years the World Economic Forum has played a major role in facilitating some major political and social developments in Africa by bringing together key players from the various sectors.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.