UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Tuesday against "unrealistic expectations" and "magic success" from this week's summit meeting in Canada to promote economic development in Africa.
The U.N. chief said he is hoping for a new partnership between the world's richest nations and Africa's leaders to improve life for millions of people living in poverty — not the announcement of major projects and billions of dollars in aid and investment.
The secretary-general said he will also be urging the leaders of the seven major industrialized nations and Russia to work with the United Nations to solve conflicts in Africa, including the wars in Congo and Angola.
"I think it is a prerequisite for African economic development," Annan said. "No one invests in bad neighborhoods, and the conflicts really create the impression that Africa is a continent in crisis, and no one is going to rush there to invest."
The Group of Eight have invited the secretary-general and five African leaders to the second day of their June 26-27 summit in Kananaskis, Canada, to discuss an African plan to help the world's poorest continent. It is the first time the exclusive club has opened its annual meeting to nonmembers.
"What is important is the African leaders have come together determined to improve the economic and social conditions of the continent," Annan said.
They are determined "to improve governance, rule of law, regulatory systems, and in exchange are asking the developed nations to work with them not only in increased development assistance and debt relief but also to encourage investments," he said.
"I would hope that this partnership would lead to a changed economic environment on the continent," Annan told reporters at U.N. headquarters.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development, known as NEPAD, is the latest in a series of initiatives intended to turn around Africa's economy. Forged by the leaders of South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Senegal, it is designed to create a new partnership between Africa and developed nations and cut in half the number of Africans living in extreme poverty by 2015.
To achieve that target, African countries must have economic growth above 7 percent per year for the next 15 years — double the continent's average growth in 2001 — and that will take an extra dlrs 64 billion annually, according to NEPAD.
The bulk of the extra money will have to come from outside the continent, but donors and private sector companies are unlikely to invest more in Africa — beset by war and the HIV /AIDS pandemic — without demanding greater stability and more reforms. The plan also recommends accelerated debt relief, increases in development aid, and better trade terms.
Annan said the eight summit leaders have come up with proposals and a plan of action, and African leaders have come up with criteria for political and economic progress and a "peer review group" to check the performance of individual countries.
"We are not going to go there looking for a magic success...," he said. "And one should not have unrealistic expectations. I think over time NEPAD has a great potential, if the partners work in the spirit that they have been discussing."
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