"Participation Builds Unity"
"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"
"Participation Builds Unity"
"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"
PRESENTS
COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
YAOUNDE - CAMEROON WORKSHOP
11-12 NOVEMBER 2004
**********************************
Statement from the Yaoundé Business Round Table
The meeting asked what practical changes business would like to see in the next year, and what it could recommend to the Commission for Africa in regard to:
General
Education in its broadest sense, and capacity, are important to improving governance and getting the roles and responsibilities of the private and public sectors right
Encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit and freeing up markets to work for growth and job creation are the only way to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Getting the enabling environment right, cutting red tape and improved trade access will help to create this.
The G8 should examine how its development aid programmes, which focus on poverty alleviation, can shift to emphasise incentives for growth and sustainable infrastructure development, and also help the SME sector - which will deliver the most rapid improvement in living standards. Increased aid is welcome if it helps private sector development, public private partnership and investment.
Increasingly African government policies recognise the role of the private sector, but its voice is not yet heard in practice. Partnership and dialogue are needed for growth and lifting living standards and this needs a change in mindsets that is only just beginning.
The G8 has the muscle to foster a new set of partnerships capable of changing the perceptions, possibilities and the realities in Africa. The meeting called for imagination in finding ways for business to engage with the Commission, NEPAD and the G8 to get its message across. African business leaders would like to meet with G8 Heads, and call for an African Day at Davos.
A new lobbying effort combining business, civil society, the diasporas and the media is needed to alter perception and contribute to change on the ground. The G8 should invest in a long term campaign to link its private sectors, media and civil society with those of Africa. African leadership of this is essential.
The meeting requested that there be a joint meeting of representatives from the five African roundtables and the Commissioners before it reports.
Three topic areas were prioritised:
The meeting recommended that:
Inadequate physical infrastructure in power, roads and water is a severe constraint, but scarce funding is only a part of the problem. Poor management and supervision, over-reliance on short term foreign expertise, and corruption have left a legacy of failure, for which governments, donors and business each share responsibility.
The meeting recommended that for NEPAD to succeed in improving infrastructure new roles are needed:
Investment and Business Climate (trade, customs, SME development)
The meeting recommended:
Most growth and job creation will come from the SMME sector, but lack of finance and skills is a brake.
The meeting recommended:
Agriculture and services are the priority sectors for SMMEs.
On trade the meeting recommends that:
Governance (transparency, corporate governance, corruption)
The meeting recommends that:
Participants thanked the Honourable Senior Cabinet Minister for Industry and Commerce, H.E. Bello Bouba Maigari for addressing the meeting, and British investors in Cameroon for sponsoring part of the cost. Special thanks were expressed to Dick Howe, West Africa Business Association for making the arrangements.
Yaoundé
12th November 2004
· What can G8 do to promote these?
· What can African governments do to promote these?
· What can we the private sector do?
Education and Entrepreneurship are the two key issues for growth.
Human and Physical Infrastructure (education, capacity building, physical infrastructure)
Human development and improved education are a fundamental challenge facing Africa.
On education, national strategies can facilitate an expanded role for the private sector to help government tackle falling standards in universities and schools.
· Governments provide tax incentives for spending on vocational and academic training, and increased investment in skills.
· Business should be brought into the setting of curricula, and should second/volunteer executives and professionals to educational institutions
· G8 governments look into matching the investments with tax relief for corporate spending in this area, and more aggressive debt relief to boost investment in education.
· The private sector operators in Africa should develop a Code of Conduct for investing in people, which would encourage benchmarking of the delivery of capacity in their core areas of competence.
· Ending donor funded, one-off investments that have been marked by corrupt practice, and adopting the model in which the private sector constructor has a long term stake in the viability of the project through greater public-private ownership, with user fees to generate sustainability
· International donor finance concentrate on mitigating risk to private sector investors, and support the long cycle required for return on investment –i.e. guarantee funds for private sector investors rather than project funding to be managed solely by government.
· Code of Conduct: Explicit guidelines for infrastructure projects be developed which address sustainability and capacity criteria, and an international monitoring/rating system be set up to publicly report on results.
Getting the climate right for doing business requires a change in mindsets. There is resistance in government to placing private sector at the heart of economic development and wealth creation, and making business a genuine partner. On its side, business needs to put more effort into coming up with policy recommendations – priority areas are cutting red tape and making it easier for the SMME sector to flourish.
· The G8 should place greater emphasis on good economic governance to match its successful support for improving political governance. Development aid should be directed to governments which show evidence of improved economic and corporate governance.
· National private sector development strategies in which government and the formal sector jointly provide capacity to the SMME sector
· Increased donor support for instruments which improve liquidity available through commercial banks, and other appropriate institutions, and which also permit direct funding to the private sector at advantageous and accessible rates
· Governments to lower the cost to small business of using their collateral (e.g. registering assets such as land) and reducing the cost of doing business.
· the principles of the US trade access programme (AGOA) be extended across the G8 countries and on a global basis
· G8 countries should either dismantle agricultural subsidies which harm Africa’s farmers, or provide compensation through incentives to agriculture in Africa - to place competition on a level playing field
· Priority be given by the G8 to development programmes which dismantle tariff and non-tariff barriers to intra-African trade, and support sectoral trade promotion and facilitation efforts.
Corruption has become endemic in many countries and needs a fresh approach – African and the G8 should jointly launch a global initiative to combat corruption. Societies need a new approach to tackling a deeply rooted problem.
· G8 countries should strengthen and publicise measures to track and repatriate illegally obtained funds, and vigorously enforce laws preventing bribery by their companies. G8 countries should ban travel by persons guilty of corruption. Recovered funds could be used to finance development. New aid should be linked to proven efforts by governments to tackle corruption, for leaders to declare their assets, and for budget transparency to be achieved
· The private sector adopt a peer-based and private sector managed accreditation scheme that provides a certificate of good corporate governance. This is being developed in Nigeria and South Africa. Multinationals and larger companies should apply use these certification schemes to qualify their supply chain, and governments progressively require this as a requirement for contracting and licensing
· Governments should streamline government and improve remuneration for public servants. Punishments tariffs should be set using community values and alternative sanctions. Restitution of improperly obtained funds is key.
· Amnesty should be considered as a way to encourage repatriation of funds, with a time-bar and obligation that the monies remain visible.
**********************************
WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMMENT?
SEND US AN EMAIL:
CONTACT US
**********************************
BACK TO COMMISSION FRONT PAGE
**********************************
BACK TO
FRONT PAGE
***********************************
DISCLAIMER
The
Foundation for the Development of Africa
Accepts no responsibility for incorrect detail listed above!
Kindly notify us of any discrepancies:
**********************************
© Copyright 1999
Website search technology courtesy:
Foundation for the Development of Africa
The Hosting of this Website is Proudly Sponsored by:
FreeFind.com