OPENING STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL TO AFRICAN FORUM FOR INVESTMENT PROMOTION

OPENING STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

TO AFRICAN FORUM FOR INVESTMENT PROMOTION

GENEVA, 17 July (UN Information Service) -- Following is the opening statement by the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Martin Belinga-Eboutou (Cameroon), at the plenary meeting of the African Forum for Investment Promotion on 16 July 2001 at the Palais des Nations:

I welcome all of you and thank you very much for having responded to our invitation to take part in this Forum for the promotion of investment in Africa.

In my opinion, your presence in great numbers is a guarantee of the success of this ECOSOC initiative.  It shows mainly -- if there was any need to do so -- that Africa is not, contrary to what some people think, a continent about which no one cares.

When the era of globalization began about 10 years ago in the wake of the cold war period, millions of men and women throughout the world saw this change as a sign of hope that human values could become the focus of international relations.

Unfortunately, however, the global world has not totally forgotten the balance of power among States or relegated it to second place.  Ideological stakes have simply given way to economic rivalries and competition.

This new environment has widened the already enormous gap between rich countries and developing countries, especially the poorest among the poor, as in the case of the 35 African States which are among the world’s 49 least developed countries.

This Forum, your Forum, is a major component of the two days of exchanges of views and discussions on Africa that we have placed on the agenda of this annual session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.  One of our main concerns -- and our objective -- is to help establish sustainable development firmly in Africa, thereby eventually making the continent a new, dynamic and attractive pole of the world economy.

This ambition entails the involvement of all and, in particular, of this very wide range of sectors of the international community of which you, in your great diversity, are the representatives.

This is why we have found it quite natural to place you -- ministers of finance and trade, heads of multilateral organizations and development agencies, directors of public and private enterprises, trade union leaders and senior representatives of donor countries -- side by side at this meeting.  We would like to hear what you have to say because, without you, there can be no sustainable development in Africa.

I am quite sure that, during your discussions, you will have an opportunity to strengthen the natural ties that bind you and that in so doing, through dialogue and the debates that will take place, you will contribute to the formulation of projects and programmes of action likely to stimulate investment in Africa.

It is true that the challenge seems, at first glance, to be a difficult one.  If we take the example of what happened last year alone, Africa saw a spectacular 13 per cent drop in foreign direct investment.  At the international level, such investment is still particularly weak, accounting as it does for less than 1 per cent of capital flows throughout the world.

I do not have to point out that even more intensive efforts will have to be made in order to get Africa back on its feet.  To reverse the trend, there will first have to be an increase in the wealthy countries’ development assistance, which has also dropped steadily in the past 10 years and which has a direct impact on capital movement and external capital flows to Africa.

Another key factor which depends directly on the international community’s determination is the opening of local and foreign markets to African exports.  In this connection, the reform of the rules of international trade now under way in the World Trade Organization (WTO) absolutely has to take account of this specifically African parameter.

We welcome the fact that the African States have continued to amend their rules and regulations and legislation on enterprises, which are, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) experts, now largely in keeping with market economy and free competition principles.

African leaders must, however, improve the climate of security and political stability in some parts of the continent, for otherwise there can be no hope of an increase in the capital transfers and financial flows needed for economic upturn in Africa.

We also welcome the new African development order called for by the heads of State of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at the latest Summit held in Lusaka.  They not only recognize that they are the ones who hold the keys to their continent’s economic development, but they also admit that it is imperative to establish and strengthen democracy and good governance in order to enjoy the confidence of the other regions of the world.

Africa must no longer be merely an area whose unprocessed raw materials and mineral wealth are transferred to economically richer parts of the world.  The

continent has to be regarded as a full economic partner and this depends, inter alia, on the diversification of its sources of production and, in particular, the establishment of communications and industrial infrastructures to foster growth and, in so doing, kick-start the economy and sustainable development.

The Economic and Social Council and the United Nations systems as a whole are determined to make every effort they can to support the activities you are carrying out in your respective sectors in order to bring about the conditions for a dynamic process of investment in Africa.  This goal calls for justice, unity, audacity and courage on the part of Africans and the international community as a whole.

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