- Title: VARIOUS: Africa reacts to G20 summit meeting in Washington
- Date: 16th November 2008
- Summary: (W3) LAGOS, NIGERIA (NOVEMBER 15, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAGOS RESIDENT, DANIEL OKOGHUALE, SAYING: "My view might not be pleasing to them because a lot of their recommendations, G8 meetings, their resolutions concerning Africa, we do not see the effect. And even now with the financial crisis in the world, we do not see the effect in Africa yet, because one, our market is still not yet grown, two, our market has not developed to the level of their market, three, our market is not linked yet with the international market that even if there's crisis at the international level, we are not feeling it as we are ought to feel it. But whether they are meeting or not I don't think it has any thing to do with Africa because even if they make noise about Africa when it comes to implementation we do not see anything." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAGOS RESIDENT, BEN JATAU, SAYING: "I think it's necessary, I think ideally if the fundamentals of the economies are understood and the best analysis are done currently I think that would rather give them a better view of what may be going wrong with the economy generally and the crisis in the credit countries."
- Embargoed: 1st December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Economic News
- Reuters ID: LVA2DP89SHV7LGOC1DDIZ6XJACI1
- Story Text: As the G20 summit proceeds in Washington, many Africans doubt the outcome would solve Africa's financial problems, especially as the continent is only represented by South Africa.
As world leaders of the Group of 20 developed and developing countries debate the global financial crisis in Washington, the African continent is asking why are they only represented by one country, South Africa.
The G20 leaders are in Washington to discuss how to jump-start the failing economies and also seek means to impose more government control over banks and lenders.
Africa's biggest economy, South Africa, is attending a two-day summit, alongside 19 of the world's largest national economies. But some are afraid South Africa will not represent the continent as a whole.
"South Africa is representing South Africa first. Being there for their good, I don't think they will represent really represent Africa," Kader Dje from Abidjan told Reuters Television.
"It disappoints me a bit because we can't say if they will talk about African problems," he added.
Guillaume Houmpehe, another resident of the Ivory's Coast biggest city said the world is too big to choose only 20 countries to discuss the financial problems of the whole world.
"The smaller countries also have to be invited in order for them to understand the financial realities at home. It is not because they are the smaller countries that can not be involved in the decision making, because the raw material come from there,'' he said.
Poverty, unemployment and disease have haunted African countries for a long time. As long as these remain the priority of many governments, the present G20 summit could just be another lost chance to tackle the real issues.
"But whether they are meeting or not I don't think it has any thing to do with Africa because even if they make noise about Africa when it comes to implementation we do not see anything," Daniel Okoghuale from Lagos in Nigeria said.
Some African officials argued rich countries have pushed Africa to integrate further into global markets in recent decades to ease access to capital and boost investment and wealth creation. But even so, they are still largely excluded from major decisions affecting the world economy.
Nairobi resident Wilson Mwaniki said Africans should come up with their own solutions and not rely on the rest of the world so much.
"We are the ones who understand our situation better than any other person," he said.
The G20 is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies - 19 of the world's largest national economies plus the European Union. Collectively, the G20 economies comprise 90 percent of global gross national product and two-thirds of the world population. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
