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THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR
AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT( NEPAD)
BY Prof. KINFE ABRAHAM Back PRESIDENT OF THE EIIPD AND DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *The paper by Dr. Kinfe Abraham, President of the EIIPD and Distinguished Professor of International Affairs, was presented at the NEPAD South African Institute of Strategic Studies held in Pretoria, the Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations, and the Chinese Institute of Afro-Asian Studies (Beijing). The New Partnership for Africa's Development NEPAD The Performance of Post -Colonial Africa The Meaning of NEPADPrinciples and Objectives of NEPAD The New Partnership for Africa's Development NEPAD The OAU incorporated economic cooperation as one of its principal objectives at the summits of 1970, 1973, 1977 and 1979, step by step, formulated guidelines for paving the way for the ultimate goal of establishing an African economic community. This economic community was envisaged to be realized through the standard phases of preferential trade arrangement, free trade area, customs union, common market and economic union. 1 PART ONE The efforts highlighted in the above excerpt culminated in the Lagos Plan of Action of April 1980, which enjoined all African states to establish sub-regional economic blocs with the ultimate aim of establishing an African Economic Union by the year 2000. Nevertheless, this was revised because of the ambitious nature of the plan. The focus on economic integration endeavors was essentially in line with the political objective of the OAU, which aims to realize the dream of continental unity. This was the vision of the early Pan-Africanists such as Dr. Kwami Nkrumah, who saw "political sovereignty" automatically leading to "economic kingdom". The Performance of Post -Colonial AfricaAfter four decades of independence and development efforts most African countries are poorer today than they were in the early 60’s. Development assistance mainly from the West has not produced the desired change in the quality of lives of Africans. Some of the reasons for this are bad governance, corruption, debt burden, decline in Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The above predicament of the African peoples has forced African leaders to take a new and critical look at the development scene of the continent. One of the approaches suggested is that it is better to focus on a new partnership with the industrialized countries based on enhanced trade and economic partnership which promote foreign direct investment. Hence, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was suggested as a way of pooling resources from the rich industrialized countries and the African states themselves. 2 Some have viewed NEPAD as a mini-Marshall plan. Nevertheless, NEPAD is conceptually different from the old-Marshall plan. This is so because the financial resources which will be generated for it will come both from the rich countries and the African states themselves. The initial total amount, which NEPAD aims to generate on an annual basis, is USD 64 billion. But, as donors discreetly whisper to one another this is considered far too high to generate under the current economic situation. The Concept of NEPADThe question that is frequently asked is: what is NEPAD? NEPAD is a holistic, integrated sustainable development initiative for the economic and social revival of Africa. It is a pledge by African leaders, based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction, that they have a pressing duty to the African people to eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development simultaneously. NEPAD aims to help Africa participate actively in the world economy and body politic. 3 NEPAD is also anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves and the continent from the pincer-grip of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalised world. It is predicated on a call for a new relationship of ‘constructive partnership‘ between Africa and the international community. Its ultimate aim is to narrow and eventually overcome the development gap between the poor African states and the rich industrialized countries.
“The NEPAD
partnership is based on the realization of common interests, obligations,
commitments, and benefits”
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