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Speeches H.E. Joaquim Chissano: Partnership for African Development«Return To Speeches|
H.E. Joaquim Chissano: Partnership for African Development
1 Feb 2002
Excerpts of a speech by HE Joaquim Alberto Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique
Globalisation is a phenomenon that presents both opportunities and challenges.
We had entertained expectation that the globalisation process would result in increased economic opportunities for developing countries, especially for those on the African continent. However, the evidence shows their increasing marginalisation as a direct result of their inability to extract tangible benefits and solve the problems they are faced with.
How to improve our position in this globalising world? This is the question Africa needs to find an answer to. This is the question our partnership needs to address.
Partnership is also the use of opportunities offered by globalisation and increased interdependence to enhance the ability of states to control the serious threats caused by the spread of cross-border crimes, trafficking in narcotics, terrorism, diseases and the proliferation of weapons.
Like many other countries, our development efforts take place within a much wider context of international relations, often termed globalisation. The ideal state of this wider context would be the one in which we are all partners and share responsibilities and benefits in equitable manner. This takes me to another issue I would like to raise here. “How can we move from the current partnership into one that would address the real development problems of our nation?”
In western thinking, which is dominant in much of the international institutions, partnership is only good when it seems good to their way of measuring progress, which in many occasions does not address the real problems of their underdeveloped and poor partners. Very often they allocate funds and expertise for projects which do not take into account our realities. It does not mean that we do not have our own projects, that we do not have our own will. What happens is that, because of lack of economic resources many of our projects are forced to concede before those brought from outside, based only on perceptions of precedents rehearsed elsewhere under different environment, circumstances and cultures.
Sometimes, we end up being mere executors of the way the providers of external resources understand us. This kind of partnership presents us with a double risk: it kills our initiative, our capacity of thinking differently and make a specific contribution to development and to the rest of the world. Secondly, it takes us away from perceiving life, social and economic issues in accordance with local realities. This makes African leaders appear distant and strange to their own people.
We need to “Africanise” more our elites so that they can design projects which are recognised by our people, and take into account our traditions and cultures.
However, this can only be achievable provided that our partners respect, acknowledge and accept that we Africans have a contribution to make to our own development and to the development of the entire humanity. Our partners will only be true partners if they can respect our differences and our manner of understanding the world.
They will be true if they care about our gains as they do about theirs.
We can notice in Mozambique that today many partners accept to direct their aid to programmes they would not accept fifteen year ago, for they had put forward ideological considerations in detriment of imperativeness of the combat against underdevelopment and poverty.
We need to strengthen our partnership by transferring knowledge and know-how to enable our people to manufacture competitive products based on their raw materials; by an increased willingness from the rich to share a bit more of their wealth, as ‘seeds’ for prosperity for the poor countries and helping to develop their human and material resources which are abundant, but laying dormant; by recognising the value of a bridge uniting two parts of a country, and bringing communication and trade to flourish, a time when in rich countries bridges are multiplied in towns and highways without rivers; by understanding that a dam can prevent death and economic destruction in flooding periods; by implementing programmes and halting the alarming rates of propagation of HIV/AIDS and Malaria, including financing strong programmes to stop such propagation, training of personnel and supply of adequate medicines and other preventive means at accessible price for the poor.
As I said before, partnership encompasses co-operation, solidarity and tolerance at local, national and international levels.
In the Southern Africa, within the context of Southern African Development Community (SADC), we have been engaged in a creative partnership at the regional level. A partnership that puts our peoples at the centre stage of the development process. A partnership that entails ownership of the process by the peoples through extensive consultations and harmonisation, involving governments and other stakeholders. This has been proven to be a fruitful experience in our efforts to address our political, economic and social concerns, in particular the achievement, maintenance and consolidation of peace and stability in the region.
The Government approved a sound Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP) for the period 2001–2005. The actions and activities foreseen in the Strategy include, on one hand, aspects of economic, social, political and cultural character, and on the other, the programme and projects of national, provincial and local coverage. The strategic vision of the PRSP is founded on two imperatives: the need to maintain peace and political stability; and the need for rapid, sustained and broad-based growth where the private initiative plays an important role.
Our target is to maintain an average growth of 8%, which will reduce the poverty head count to below 50% by the end of this decade. To maintain rapid growth we will pursue deeper reforms to improve the investment climate, enhance efficiency and promote rise of productivity throughout the economy. To ensure that growth fully benefits the poor, we will pay special attention to investment in education and health, rural development, and creation of more jobs by promoting small and medium enterprises and micro-credit.
We started the implementation of our strategy to combat poverty in Mozambique with added difficulties due to natural disasters. In fact, the unprecedented floods that hit our country in two consecutive years (2000 and 2001), have imposed on us more daunting challenges. Roads, bridges and railways were washed away, power lines and telecommunication systems where destroyed, and many Mozambicans lost their lives and livelihood. This has obviously increased the poverty levels in the country.
The way we are facing up to this challenge, counting on both internal and international solidarity is equally a clear demonstration of a spirit of partnership.
We have solidified our internal partnerships with the civil society, private sector and other stakeholders of the Mozambique society, so as to increase our confidence with our external development partners, who have indeed played a crucial role in our development process.
Despite these adversities, we have maintained our commitment to pursue the economic reforms started in 1987 aimed at reversing the weaknesses of our economy and to bringing sustainable growth. The records in the economic growth of the last five years are encouraging.
This was made possible by the adoption and implementation of measures aimed at encouraging direct national and foreign investment.
I would like to confess that I did not consult any Oxford English Dictionary on the meaning of the word partnership. However, based on my own experience, this is my understanding of what partnership means and should be. |
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