Haste needed with Nepad, leaders told

JOHANNESBURG -- African finance ministers urged haste yesterday with putting the continent's economic development plan into action, warning it would falter otherwise.

"Now is the time to move from vision to action," the ministers said in a draft statement issued after a two-day conference on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).

"Unless we can show results on the ground, Nepad will be another lost opportunity for Africa."

One way of demonstrating Nepad's potential to Africans as well as the continent's development partners was to move quickly in getting a good governance peer review system in place, as envisioned by the plan.

Also needed was the involvement of parliaments as well as civil and private representatives in poverty reduction.

Of key importance was incorporating Nepad's goals into national programmes, the ministers agreed.

More than 60 African ministers of finance, planning and economic development met in Sandton, over the weekend under the auspices of the UN's Economic Commission for Africa, in what has been described as the largest policy-making gathering on Nepad since the AU adopted the plan in July.

The wording of the ministerial statement still has to be refined before a final version is presented to African heads of state prior to the next meeting of Nepad's implementation committee in Abuja, Nigeria, next month.

At the close of the meeting, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel described the meeting as a decisive moment in world history, saying Africans could hold their heads high.

"We can now talk to the north as equals," he said.

The ministers agreed that accelerating progress under Nepad should start with mobilising domestic resources rather than looking to donors. Far more cross-border collaboration was also needed to facilitate trade, to embark on joint projects for infrastructure, to ease the flow of workers, and to co-ordinate Africa's activities with donors and the World Trade Organisation.

They urged African countries to participate in the peer review system, saying it had the potential of fostering better policies. A peer review lasting about six months would be entirely voluntary, with no penalties attached.

It would be an African-owned process, aimed at assisting countries to improve their political and economic environments.

The ministers also urged African countries to act on the results of such reviews, which are expected to start early next year.

Yesterday Ghana became the first country to volunteer for a review, with Manuel saying South Africa was likely to follow suit.

Relations between Africa and her development partners would in future hinge on mutual accountability, the ministers agreed. Africa would commit itself to self-monitoring and peer learning. Donors should see that all policies affecting African development prospects were in line with the recipients' goals. The draft statement read "there should be a move to greater predictability and increased resource flows, particularly to countries that have a clear commitment to these shared goals -- and a move away from tied aid".

Debt relief was also discussed, with the delegates agreeing that a World Bank and International Monetary Fund project launched recently to assist African countries in this regard was not working well enough.

The statement recommends that African policy makers integrate poverty reduction strategies with the macro-economic targets of their development plans, and strengthen public expenditure management systems to ensure efficient resource allocation.

It also stresses the need for the continent to create an enabling environment for the private sector and stop the flight of capital, as well as addressing the limited access of small and medium-sized enterprises to formal bank credit.

It also calls for duty-free, quota-free access for almost all products originating from low-income African countries. However, the first step towards global integration was increasing market access and trade within Africa. This required reducing tariffs, dismantling cumbersome border procedures, and improving infrastructure.

Combating HIV-Aids and malaria, should also form an important part of a continental poverty reduction programme. -- Sapa