'MARGINALIZATION OF AFRICA IN ALL SECTORS OF INTERNATIONAL LIFE MUST END'
Press Release
GA/9169
'MARGINALIZATION OF AFRICA IN ALL SECTORS OF INTERNATIONAL LIFE MUST END'
19961120 Taking cognizance of Africa Industrialization Day is to underline the need to make a reality of the partnership between Africa and the international community to enhance development in African countries. Even though the principle of international partnership to assist industrial development in Africa exists in various policy declarations, successful and sustained demonstrations of this commitment are few.I make this statement at a time when the General Assembly considers the mid-term review of the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, and when the doctrine of "free-market globalization" seems to have captured the debate on development issues, being de rigueur for prospects of African economic development.
Recent reports, including the New Agenda, clearly show that the economic needs and development aspirations of Africa have not been given urgent political and financial priority by the international community. For example, even though calls for the promotion of the private sector, increased industrial development and foreign direct investment, and the reduction of external debt in African countries are regularly made in various forums, harsh marketplace reality shows that portfolio equity investment remains virtually absent, and less than 5 per cent of global foreign direct investment is targeted towards African countries.
It is unconscionable that financial flows to Africa remain so low despite renewed commitments of the international community to the contrary -- more so when the majority of African countries have undertaken difficult and unpopular structural adjustment programmes that have marginalized the poor further, depleted natural resources and degraded the environment.
Perhaps, the facts and fictions of economic development in Africa should no longer continue to surprise or confound us when we consider today's economic climate. For Africa, such a harsh climate makes it impossible for its economies to emulate the so-called successful models of South-East Asia. South-East Asian tiger economies "took off" when the global economy was growing, and when loans, aid and development assistance from rich industrialized countries were still items on the political agenda.
South-East Asian economies were also allowed to develop under domestic tutelage which ensured a high degree of strict trade controls and import barriers that enabled local industries to grow.
Such is not the case with African economies today, especially since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, which by all objective accounts concluded that African countries are the major losers of an expanded global economy. How then do we assist African economies to develop capacity building, and educational and technical skills that are the basic building blocks for any process of industrialization?
Despite increased commodity exports by some, on the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), sub-Saharan Africa's export growth has not kept pace with the growth of its external debt, which continues to rise to unsustainable and shocking levels. Of the 40 countries that are classified as heavily indebted, 33 are in sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of which have virtually no access to financial markets or to non-concessional flows from official sources.
At the same time, many African countries have had to relinquish considerable economic control to the Bretton Woods institutions -- all effective State control of the economy being replaced by the vagaries of market forces and the dictates of trade liberalization. One important reason that has prevented the industrial development of African economies is the nature of conditionalities under structural adjustment programmes. These have geared African economies towards the export of primary commodities whose prices have been depressed for decades, and prevented new types of industry from developing. Conditions such as these have debilitated the region from lifting itself out of socio-economic deprivation.
The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative (HIPCs), recently welcomed by the "Group of Seven" countries and endorsed by the joint IMF-World Bank Committees, is intended to reduce the problem of multilateral, bilateral and commercial debt of the heavily indebted African countries to sustainable levels. Countries eligible under this initiative will hopefully be able to focus their energies on their economic development instead. Even though this comprehensive approach towards the issue of debt sustainability is to be welcomed, it is only a first step towards a final solution of the debt crisis which cripples the potential for greater economic, industrial and social development in Africa. It is also questionable whether commitment to structural adjustment programmes should remain the key condition for such debt relief. Many parties, including the European Commission and the World Bank, are questioning the effectiveness of current programmes.
The Alliance for Africa's Industrialization, initiated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, in cooperation with the Economic Commission for Africa and the Organization of African Unity, and launched in
- 3 - Press Release GA/9169 20 November 1996
Côte d'Ivoire last month, is yet another important initiative to revitalize African economies. This will provide a mechanism for African leaders to define appropriate industrial development strategies and commit political will and resources to their achievement. It is also an effort to draw the attention of African decision makers and the international community to Africa's industrial development potential and the need to fully realize this potential.
Even though it is important to reaffirm a strong commitment of the private sector, donor governments, agencies and non-governmental organizations to genuine partnership for the accelerated industrial growth of Africa, a critical first step must be to design policies based on the real needs of individual African economies, as development will only take place in Africa when its people have democratic control over its own policies. Policies to enhance industrial development and economic growth should also strive to meet the basic needs of communities at the grass-roots level, if they are to be socially and environmentally sustainable.
If we need a market rationale to convince us why we should invest in Africa, let me state that assistance to Africa is not welfare. In essence, it is an investment in other people for one's own self-interest. Africa can be, with industrialization, a huge market for the world. The rising economies in Latin America and East Asia have led to world growth. In the same way, a revitalized Africa will enhance prosperity and purchasing power for the world as a whole.
Against the background of the human tragedy in the Great Lakes region, this current session of the General Assembly has considered items such as the eradication of poverty, the plight of refugees, the impact of armed conflict on children, the issue of women, and food security. Discussions of all these major issues point directly to the virtual absence of focus and commitment by the international community to the multiplicity of problems in Africa. The marginalization of Africa in all sectors of international life must end.
As President of the fifty-first session of the General Assembly, I would be without integrity if I came to this occasion to speak about "African industrialization" without placing such a goal within the broader context of all the terrible ravages that beset Africa.
* *** *