Ghana, Uganda seek peer review
2002-10-21 10:26
Johannesburg - Africa's new recovery plan received a boost on Sunday when Ghana and Uganda asked to have their economic and political governance rated, diplomats and ministers said.
The controversial governance-monitoring plan known as peer review calls for African leaders to rate nations on tough new standards to attract foreign investment and aid to the world's poorest continent. The plan has been endorsed by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries.
Peer review is seen as crucial to the success of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, or Nepad, the economic blueprint of the new African Union launched in July.
Nepad preaches improved economic and political governance by Africans in exchange for greater investment and aid.
The two African states - the first to volunteer - made the offer at a meeting of African government ministers convened by the Ethiopia-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
"Ghana has asked to be peer reviewed," said ECA Executive Secretary Kingsley Amoako. Another ECA official confirmed that Uganda had also asked to be put under scrutiny.
The offers by Ghana and Uganda, which are seen by Western donors as good examples of economic reform, will be presented to Nepad's implementing committee next month.
A bomb scare on Sunday forced the evacuation of several dozen ministers and officials from the conference venue as they joined a party to formally close the meeting, officials said.
No fruits from peer review yet
Amoako and South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said ministers in Johannesburg were concerned that Nepad and its peer review framework get quickly under way, because they were attending far too many meetings on the subject without seeing any fruits from the deal yet.
"Now is the time to move from vision to action. Unless we can show results on the ground, Nepad will be another lost opportunity for Africa," the ministers said in a draft statement.
"One possibility for demonstrating Nepad's potential, to Africans and to Africa's development partners, is to move quickly on the African peer review mechanism," they said, adding that action was also required to implement regional infrastructure projects.
ECA officials said on Friday they did not expect countries to rush to be reviewed, but that momentum could gradually build as countries began to see the benefits.
The ministers said they were seeking greater integration into the global markets to achieve Nepad's goals and were keen to rejuvenate agricultural exports and identify ways of regaining their market share.
"We urge our international partners to remove all further barriers to trade - particularly OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) agricultural subsidies, tariff peaks, and numerous non-tariff barriers," they said.
The ministers also discussed how to enhance the campaign against Aids, reduce poverty and fight hunger.