NEWS
05.02.07
Managing Africa's natural resources for growth and poverty reduction
The '2007 Big Table: Managing Africa's Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction' was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in early February, to coincide with the African Union’s annual head of state meeting.
It was jointly organized by the UN’s Economic Commission for African (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (ADB). This was the fifth Big Table meeting since their initiation in 2000 and their purpose is to allow African ministers the opportunity to informally discuss, with OECD counterparts, priority issues.
ICMM was the only industry participant, joining representatives from nine African nations, the OECD, IMF, World Bank, African Union, ADB, bi-lateral donors (UK Department for International Development and USAID), UNECA, the governments of Canada and The Netherlands, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and selected research organizations.
In preparation for the meeting, ICMM submitted comments on the concept note and issues paper for the Big Table. The major themes discussed at the event were:
- The potential economic opportunities offered by Africa’s mineral resources, particularly in the current strong commodities market;
- The need for governance and economic reforms to attract investment and enable countries to benefit from the resulting higher taxes and improved infrastructure;
- The high-level of technical and management skill required for effective governance of minerals sectors, and the current widespread deficiencies in Africa, notwithstanding the existence of a small number of centres of excellence;
- The opportunities and risks associated with the present broadening of investment sources, particularly the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China); and
- Assorted historic challenges and problems associated with the industry, including an investors ‘colonial’ mentality negotiating weaknesses leading to poor contracts for host countries and the benefits and limitations of current global initiatives like EITI.
Given the informal nature of the meetings the discussion was free ranging but informative and constructive. No specific plan of action was developed but the meeting provided a useful platform for African ministers’ participation in forthcoming events such as the ADB’s annual summit to be held in Shanghai in May.
It is expected that China’s central bank governor, Perng Fai-nam, will be appointed chair of the ADB’s board at this meeting, and thus would be only the second time a non-African national has held the post in the bank’s 43 year history.
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