AFRICA

U.K. Prime Minister, Tony Blair, a year ago established a commission on Africa, calling Africa’s problem a scar on the conscience of the world. Recently the commission made public its findings. This high level commission had as members Prime Ministers, Presidents, experts, and even a Saint, Sir Bob Geldorf. It’s easy to discount reports, we have endured so many, but words and ideas do matter. The Brandt Report commissioned by Social Democratic German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, created new phrases, now clichés, with great clarity. This is how we learnt of the North-South divide, the Third World, and the political objective of .7% of Government revenues in aid.

In 2000 at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, a hundred leaders solemnly agreed to what was grandly called the Millennium Goals, to halve the world’s poverty. It was hoped we could reach these objectives within 15 years, at present rates it will now take over 100 years to achieve these noble goals. The African Continent, over the past quarter century, is the only continent that has become poorer. Sub-Saharan Africa represents 10% of the world’s population, but has two-thirds of all people with HIV AIDS. Corruption costs Africa nearly US$160 billion a year. Africa’s debt has tripled over the past 25 years. Grim stuff. Who’s to blame? What to do?

There’s enough blame for everyone to share - great companies accept bribery as a legitimate way to do business, and greedy politicians and bureaucrats who steal. I know something about this. I put a group together to do some business in an African country, the business was good for everyone and then I was asked to direct many millions of dollars to various important people. I walked away. Africa is changing, now there is a new organisation, the African Union, which was born out of the old liberation movement and its cheerleader, the Organisation of African States. The new African plan, Nepad, introduces a system of peer reviews and peer pressure to force change

Half of the African population lives on less than a dollar a day, not enough to buy a cup of tea. Some things have improved, growth is now 5%, historically high, almost the target needed for sustained growth. Evil dictatorships are on the decline, over the past 5 years two-thirds of sub-Saharan nations have had multi-party elections. The Blair Report has firm recommendations. Total cancellation of debt for the poorest countries, increase aid to Africa by 300%, a suggested global tax on airline tickets. Bold moves to open trade barriers to African exports, which when you consider abolishing cotton, coffee and sugar subsidies, would return up to 5 times more than all the aid put together, and incidentally save European taxpayers $50 billion. New anti-corruption laws, and transparency by Western banks to stop and trace money being paid to corrupt African leaders are on the agenda. The need to build African infrastructure is recognised. You can send a container from Hong Kong through Panama to New York for a quarter of the price of getting a container from North Africa to New York. It costs just $1,500 to ship a motorcar from Japan to Abidjan, but it costs $5,000 to ship it on from Abidjan to Addis Abba. It is recommended that aid be re-oriented towards infrastructure - $20 billion a year for 5 years, rising to $40 billion a year for the following 5 years.

African torment is equal to the effect of a "tsunami every month". No wonder there are a million economic refugees in Libya alone waiting to escape to Europe and pastures greener. Over the past 15 years, more Africans have gone to the United States than were shipped by force across the Atlantic during 200 years of slavery. What’s special about this report is that the majority of the Commission members were Africans, there is a high level buy-in. Responsibility is accepted, it’s about good governance, open markets, pumped up by investment that’s now welcome. It’s only a few years ago, indeed in my time as Director General of the World Trade Organisation some still opposed investment as a new form of colonialisation. Now the ball is in the court of the G8, the biggest industrialized economies, that will be chaired by Prime Minister Blair, who will assemble in the elegant Gleneagles Castle in July to consider these recommendations. If they fail it will break the heart of the world.