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Introduction
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I would like to thank the organizers of this seminar for the opportunity given to NEPAD Secretariat to present the progress achieved in the last four years. Through efforts of African countries in the past four years, a solid foundation has been built for the successful implementation of NEPAD, particularly in creating a conducive environment for sustained development. We have witnessed the successful resolution of conflict in Corte d'Ivoire, ongoing efforts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and successful elections in Tanzania, Liberia and Burundi. In programme implementation, progress has been made in moving NEPAD from a concept, to policy development and initial implementation of NEPAD programmes is witnessed in many countries. During this period, a number of lessons have been learnt regarding Africa's development challenges. Some of these lessons include the need to:
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enhance institutional capacity for effective and efficient programme conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;
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integrate NEPAD priorities, values and principles into national development plans;
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reinforce partnerships, within Africa, and with Africa's development partners;
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harness and generate domestic financial and human resources for development;
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The key principles and messages of NEPAD are:
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African ownership and responsibility;
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Protection and promotion of democracy and human rights;
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Good political, economic and corporate governance;
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Self reliance and reduced dependency on Aid through strengthening of the private sector;
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People-centred development and gender equality;
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Partnerships with stakeholders in each country and with other African countries, including partnership with international community, strengthening Africa's voice in international organisations;
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Accountable leadership; and
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Action oriented partnership
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There are three parts forming the framework of NEPAD:
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The necessary conditions which are peace, security and good governance;
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Priority sectors including agriculture and food security, trade and market access, infrastructure development, Human development including health and education; Science and technology, culture, environment and tourism; and
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Resource Mobilization.
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NEPAD created the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) which is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by Member States of the African Union as an African self-monitoring mechanism and its primary purpose is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practices, including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs of capacity building.
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The goal of the APRM is to accelerate progress towards adoption and implementation of the priorities and programmes of NEPAD, achieving the mutually agreed objectives and compliance with best practice in respect of each of the areas of governance and development. This can only be achieved through the sustained efforts of the country itself, involving all stakeholders including Parliamentarians, Local Government and Municipalities. APRM requires that each country carefully develops a Programme of Action with time bound objectives and linked to national budgets, local government or Municipality budgets to guide all stakeholders in the actions required to achieve the country's vision. Parliaments and Parliamentarians must be effectively engaged in this process.
Africa's scope for domestic mobilisation of resources is limited by poor growth. Even though, African countries need to take steps to enhance domestically raised revenue, mobilise savings within their borders, to harness African capital held outside of the continent, and harness intra-African capital flows. This priority is central to the notion of African ownership, which compels African governments to look inward first.
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The NEPAD approach to each of these priorities includes:
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A broad range of measures to more effectively mobilize and manage public resources include tax reform; improved fiscal prudence and discipline; improved public debt management; anti-corruption initiatives and civil service, and public administration reform.
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Higher savings rates are only likely with higher income levels. However there is a range of measures that African governments might take in ensuring that higher savings rates do materialize. Such measures include sustained campaigns to inculcate the savings culture; modernization of savings institutions; pension scheme reform; regulatory and legislative reform; and financial market development.
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Estimates suggest that in 2000 Africans held up to US$400 billion or 35 percent of their wealth outside Africa. This was equivalent to the size of Africa's debt or 92 percent of GDP. Conditions of peace, security, and sound political and economic governance, as well as the development of effective financial markets and the creation of attractive economic opportunities, form the basis of any approach to attracting this capital back to Africa.
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In the case of intra-African capital flows, improved cross-regional infrastructure connectivity (physical, electronic, and financial) as well as harmonisation of regulatory policy framework are essential to increase intra-Africa investment and trade flows.
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In the short to medium term, however, many of the poorest African countries will not be able to mobilise sufficient resources within their borders, or within the greater region, and will need to rely on capital flows from outside of Africa to obtain sufficient resources to meet the infrastructure financial needs. These capital flows may be official development assistance and debt relief, or private.
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The private sector has responded through the formation of NEPAD Business Groups in a number of countries including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. The African Business Roundtable launched a continent-wide NEPAD Business Group. At the global level, in the United States of America, the Corporate Council for Africa is cooperating with African businesses to improve levels of investment, the Corporate Council for Africa in Canada joined the efforts of NEPAD to increase investment in productive areas, the Commonwealth Business Council and the World Economic Forum all joined to promote NEPAD all around the world. The Parliamentarians must be engaged with private sector to encourage investment in Africa.
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The countries of the South including Brazil, India, China and Malaysia have also become partners in the implementation of NEPAD. Africans in the Diaspora have shown interest and are being mobilised through a number of initiatives including Africa Recruit, a joint venture between NEPAD Secretariat and the Commonwealth Business Council and the NEPAD Council formed by leading African scientists working in the United States and Europe.
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We have an important challenge, which is the promotion of social and economic development of our countries. Globalisation places a new and additional pressure upon African countries to interact internationally with each other, both within their own regions and on a wider global stage. The increasing prevalence of corruption, injustice, lack of respect for human rights in Africa constitutes a threat for successful implementation of NEPAD.
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