African countries will await answers from developed nations on their positions regarding debt relief, market access, financing via loans or grants, and the manner in which development assistance is provided when they meet at the G-8 summit in Canada later this month, says President Thabo Mbeki.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Africa Economic Summit in Durban, Mbeki emphasized that an important part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) was the role G-8 businesses could assume in showing G-8 governments the part they are playing in Nepad.
More specifically, Mbeki said the question of African countries' debt would be raised.
"This issue must be addressed afresh since we can't talk about attaining the development levels envisaged in Nepad and continue at the same time to export capital. We expect a response from the G-8 on this."
Market access issues were also important, he added. "Surely we expect a commitment from the G-8 to a position on this issue - market access for all sorts of African goods including agricultural products?"
He noted that US President George W. Bush had recently been raising the question of whether items such as educational financing should be provided through loans or grants.
Because such funds were not likely to be repaid, grants were perhaps the best tool to use for this type of finance, and this could be addressed at the summit as well, he said.
At the same time, the manner in which development assistance was being provided by developed countries to developing ones also required discussions, Mbeki said, pointing out instances where people spent more time on donor reports than on doing development, or where more money was spent in donor countries for a project than in the recipient country.
Finally, he suggested that businesses from both G-8 and African countries could play a "critical role" in marketing Nepad.
"It is important for G-8 governments to hear what their companies are doing in Africa. This would be a very powerful message for them, as I'm quite sure there are ways G-8 governments could intervene to assist or partner them in Africa."
In return, G-8 governments were waiting to hear Africa's commitment to specific action plans surrounding Nepad, the President concluded.
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