ALGERIA: CONCERN ABOUT IMPOVERISHED AFRICA AND ECONOMIC REFORM UNDER DISCUSSION AT AFRICAN SUMMIT

Record ID: 649330

  • Title: ALGERIA: CONCERN ABOUT IMPOVERISHED AFRICA AND ECONOMIC REFORM UNDER DISCUSSION AT AFRICAN SUMMIT
  • Date: 23rd November 2004
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF DELEGATES INCLUDING EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK STANDING TO ATTENTION SCU ALGERIAN PRESIDENT STANDING TO ATTENTION
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ALGIERS,ALGERIA
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: General,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA41VI4FT8DGE793396TH5B79A1
  • Story Text: The leaders of Algeria and Nigeria tell the African summit that the continent is serious about economic reform to attract foreign investors.
    Impoverished Africa is serious about economic reform to attract foreign investors and reduce its reliance on aid, the leaders of Algeria and Nigeria told an African summit on Tuesday (November 23).
    "Our first priority is to put our houses in order if we want to implement good governance," Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said in a speech at the one-day meeting of the 24-nation New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
    However, Obasanjo, head of the 53 member African Union and key advocate of NEPAD also praised the initiative at the opening of the Algerian meeting saying, "It is a mechanism through which we are committed to each other in promoting adherence to good governance and improving social economic conditions for our peoples, and to end Africa's marginalization in global affairs.
    Secondly, it bears reiteration that this is our own initiative and it is unique in the world as no other region has undertaken such a bold approach to cooperate on a continental basis for the common good."
    NEPAD, backed by the Group of Eight industrialised countries, is trying to prove that an economic rescue plan set up three years ago and aimed at boosting foreign investment is more than another talking shop.
    More than 20 heads of state and prime ministers attended the meeting in Algiers, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki. Africa attracts barely two percent of global foreign direct investment flows. Far more capital is needed to promote growth in a continent mired in poverty and conflict despite an abundance of natural resource wealth.
    Critics of NEPAD, which also seeks improved governance in exchange for donor dollars, say the grouping is more talk than action.
    Last month Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade criticised the home-grown recovery plan for holding meetings that yielded few results.
    No concrete steps were expected to be presented at Tuesday's summit, which would review progress over the past three years and discuss how to integrate NEPAD into the African Union.
    Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika repeated his call for fellow African countries to rely more on their own resources and not wait for aid from international donors.
    "African governments have to aid the NEPAD plan financially if they want it to be implemented," Bouteflika said in a speech. "Now we have 24 African states in the NEPAD initiative. It shows our willingness to work hard in order to promote democracy and human rights," he said. "It is also a signal to the international community that we are serious about going forward in developing our continent."
    Under peer review, countries submit themselves for governance rating by a NEPAD panel. Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda and Kenya are the first to be scrutinised under the plan.
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