Leaders mull over investments

2004-07-07 12:46

Addis Ababa - On the second day of the African Union's annual summit, some 40 heads of state and government from across the continent on Wednesday honed an initiative to attract foreign investment to Africa and fine-tuned details of their pan-continental grouping.

The African Union replaced the Organisation of African Unity in 2002 and styles itself on the European Union.

Its leading lights, such as Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare and Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria - the former and current chairpersons of the AU - have worked hard over the last two years to promote the new gathering as a credible engine of continental integration, stability and prosperity.

They have been equally keen to distance the AU from its predecessor, which had a reputation of being little more than a talking shop with a secretariat staffed by unqualified officials.

Up for discussion at the summit on Wednesday were texts that define the AU's place on the continent and in the rest of the world, a three-year strategic plan for 2004 to 2007, and action plans for the commissions various departments.

Pooling resources

According to these texts, the AU wants to be the driving force to develop "an Africa conscious of its potential and determined to exploit it, particularly by pooling resources; an Africa critical of its own weaknesses and geared to actively participate in global trade; an Africa which cannot afford to wait until tomorrow to have its problems resolved; and an Africa determined to offer to its peoples, basic goods and services at affordable prices."

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), a home-grown plan that aims to drag the continent out of poverty by offering good governance and transparency in exchange for trade and investment, is a core feature of the AU's roadmap and was the focus of parallel discussions in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday.

Under this initiative, African states will work to attract investment, rather than simply aid, from rich countries in return for improving their record in governance, democracy and fighting corruption.

One of Nepad's central pillars is a peer review mechanism, whereby heads of state closely monitor the activities of their counterparts, an idea that would have been unthinkable under the OAU's sacred doctrine of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

- AFP