M Mpahlwa: Conference of African Ministers of Industry (CAMI)

24 September 2007

Chairman
African Union (AU) Commissioner, Elizabeth Tankeu
Ministers
Senior Officials
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

It is my honour to welcome all our guests to South Africa. Since 1652, when
this land was first forcibly occupied by the Dutch East India Company, there
has always been attempts to distance South Africa from its sister nations in
Africa. In the past thirteen years, the first democratic government of South
Africa has stressed that Africa is our Continent and that our future is
inextricably intertwined with the peoples of Africa. Many of you would during
the dark days of apartheid, have been denied entry here, and indeed as many of
us were denied entry to your countries by the old South African government.
Some of us nevertheless sought protection as refugees and all of you responded
so magnificently to our need. In the same manner that you gave us a home, it is
indeed our privilege to host this 1st Extra-Ordinary Conference and I thank you
for attending in such large numbers.

Ladies and gentlemen, A little more than thirty years ago, Steve Bantu Biko-
a hero of the South African struggle for liberation-was murdered by Apartheid
security forces, while in detention. Not long before this terrible tragedy,
Biko had mentioned in one of his many writings, the memorable phrase: "Black
man, you on your own." There have been many interpretations of what he meant by
this. Some saw it as a rallying call for black racial pride. Others saw it as
dangerous incitement; designed to encourage an uprising against white people.
Another, interesting interpretation, is that Biko's call was not one of racial
exclusivity or a call to black people to exclude them from wider society or the
world at large, for that matter. His advice, it can be argued, was that as
black people were the fundamental subject of oppression, they should be the
fundamental subject and leaders, of their liberation.

In this context we can also assert, that what was true for the masses of
black South African’s thirty years ago, remains true for all of Africa's
people, today. Because fundamentally, the only people who can succeed in
growing the economy of Africa - in a responsible and sustainable manner- are
African's themselves. Again, this cannot be taken to mean that to achieve the
vision of an economically powerful Africa, we should exclude ourselves from
global economic developments. On the contrary, it is only by integrating
ourselves in global economic developments that we will realise our potential.
And it true that already, Africa is a fundamental economic player in world
affairs. Because without our resources the World economy could not and cannot
grow at the rates required to provide a dignified life, free of poverty, for
all its peoples. The great paradox of our time is that while we exercise this
important role in the socio-economic development of the world, the benefit to
Africans, is disproportionately small. This is our challenge and we are best
placed to tackle it.

We can consider this challenge from many perspectives; the social, the
psychological and the economic. Our work during the days that we are gathered
here is to make a contribution to economic development, the process of
industrialisation in particular. In this regard, I wish to talk to four
dimensions required for successful industrialisation in Africa. The first of
these is our relationship with the world.

As we consider the need for Africans to be fundamentally responsible for
Africa's economic transformation, we recognise that the globalisation of
markets and finance, advances in computing, information processing and
telecommunications have created an increasingly interdependent world. This
progress also translates into expanding the volume of business and heightening
international competition. But such growing interdependence among countries of
the world and the changing geopolitical situation has made cooperation vitally
necessary for all.

It is within this context that Africa entered the 1990s facing the daunting
task of recouping the losses of the past decade and, returning to the path of
sustained social and economic development. A great deal of work has been done
to move the continent out of this problem. Yet, in general, we remain delinked
from global political, commercial and technological advances and
decision-making.

From this perspective, strategic partnerships have become more important
than ever before. These strategic partnerships must take place at two levels.
Firstly, and ultimately the most significant is that we have much to gain from
the development of a deeper, long-term and stable partnership within the
African Union. We can learn from each other in a number of ways. This is so
because the new international system of the post-Cold War era has failed to
develop a collective system for dealing equitably with increasing globalisation
and integration. This means that Africa will have to look more to internal
sources of growth and non-traditional sources of capital and technology to
finance its development.

So, the second level relates to something I have alluded to before in that
at the same time as we forge deeper intra-continental co-operation, we must
seek out international partners that will best fit our strategic objectives for
Africa's development.

For instance, our analysis shows that at present, Asian investment is mostly
in North America and Europe. Yet, Asia is becoming the major investor in
Africa. Clearly, much potential exists in this new and expanding relationship.
In my view, the basis for expanding development co-operation within Africa and
between Africa and Asia should, however, be that, the needs and capacities of
both regions must be matched in a mutually beneficial manner. Asia should
benefit from the cooperation as much as Africa, although the gains need not
have equal monetary value. Given the different stages of technological
development, interests could be diverse. For Asia, it could be the opening of
markets in Africa and disposal of surplus funds in investments. On the other
hand, Africa might be interested in the transfer of technology and know-how.
Therefore, the scope of development co-operation should be sufficiently broad
to enable each participant to maximise benefits. In other words co-operation
needs to be pursued based on equality and mutual respect, guided by the desire
to learn from each other. It should also promote a two-way flow of
experience.

This partnership should be genuinely demand-driven. Programs must be
initiated, prepared and implemented by Africans and their direct partners
themselves. Ladies and gentlemen, furthermore, this partnership can be brought
to bear at all levels with broad participation by different actors. Government
agencies, private individuals, academics and non-governmental organisations
need to participate. Co-operation should be encouraged at regional,
sub-regional, national and organisational levels, and needs to be firmly
grounded in grassroots level interaction. Certainly, key to this partnership
should be the recognition of cultural and geographic diversity of participating
countries. The various mechanisms created to facilitate this cooperation should
not signal, for instance, that the Asian miracle can be reproduced in Africa.
As the Asian experience shows, no two countries have identical patterns of
development. Nor can there be a mechanistic view of development.

Indeed, the vast literature on Africa and Asia suggests that as Africa takes
the lead in its own development, constructive lessons are available from the
Asian development experience in such areas as economic management, private
sector development, human capability expansion, export diversification,
industrialisation, agricultural policies and the role of governments.
Furthermore, differences in endowments between the two regions and variations
in stages of technological and economic development offer ample opportunities
for co-operation.

The main thrust of this process should be focused on marshalling our efforts
towards an overarching strategy of meeting the millennium development goals. A
cooperation framework could aim at harnessing our countries capacities
steadily, towards cutting-edge knowledge in science and technology. The
knowledge asset of the Asian Tigers and other South East Asian countries that
have attained high rates of economic growth during the 1990's, together with
the experience gained in poverty eradication and, the capacity to attract
foreign direct investment, could be harnessed and become a shared asset of this
partnership.

Another key challenge facing this partnership is finding new ways to spur
the emulation of the Asia Tigers' that have achieved success in equipping
themselves with new information and communication technology. Thus we hope that
our burgeoning partnership would promote on-line collaboration to create
knowledge-based economies and people-centred development to reduce poverty,
eradicate deadly diseases and increase living standards of the people of the
south.

The capacity to adapt new technologies to the pressing developmental needs
is another key challenge faced by our continents. Thus existing experience on
using technology to promote micro-economic reforms, building local level
industrial capabilities and also to deal with many developmental issues
affecting the poor with both continents, can be shared.

Ministers, another common challenge in developing this strategic partnership
is that of organising African entrepreneurs from the South regions to work out
arrangements for trade, strategic partnerships and joint ventures. This is not
insurmountable, given that many states within Africa have already embraced the
idea of private sector development as a key growth strategy. Thus a focus of
our strategy will be the need to move towards supporting the development of
small and medium enterprises in the South, with the objective of creating jobs,
reducing poverty and meeting other internationally agreed developmental goals
including those in the Millennium Declaration. And we should move towards
boosting the flow of inter-Africa trade and other inter-regional exchanges
through collaboration within the African Union's programme of New Partnership
for Africa's Development (Nepad).

In summary, I have argued that essentially, the South – South partnership is
the key modality to sustained economic development and should entail
significant and positive transformation of the economies of our continents. But
as the participants within such partnerships, it is absolutely necessary that
we shift from traditional low-productivity, primary activities and low-value
services to activities that use modern technologies, create new skills,
generate exports and employment, and have beneficial spill over effects on
other activities and institutions.

In this way, this partnership will, in future, become an engine for changing
and modernising Africa's economic structure. It will be the main avenue for
promoting best practice in new technologies and the diffusion of technological
innovations in our cross-country research and development programmes and will
raise technical and managerial firm level capabilities.

It will be crucial to rising and diversifying exports, moving the regions
from their continued dependence on low value-add and unstable primary products.
It will enable Africa to create new skills, work attitudes and institutions and
will be the driver of growth and productivity in other activities: agriculture,
information-based services, finance, construction, logistics and so on. In
other words, the catalytic role of the South-South partnership is as relevant
today to both regions as Africa has been to other regions in the past.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have used this analysis of South-South
cooperation as the most significant example of how we are, shall-and indeed can
develop strategic partnerships for mutual benefit. It signals the need for a
deep rooted departure from the days when Africa's resources promoted
international development at the expense of Africa’s political and economic
progress.

But I think we should also accept that this does not signal the end or
replacement of traditional relationships or the exclusion of a relationship
with the Middle East for instance. It also does not signal the end or
replacement of the relationships we enjoy with the major multi-lateral bodies
that will continue to hold considerable influence in world affairs in the
foreseeable future. What we are saying, is that the nature of these
relationships must undergo a deep seated transformation in which Africa becomes
a partner rather than recipient and, provider of primary, unprocessed
resources.

To achieve these partnerships will, indeed, require of us to act
strategically. We should ask for instance, why is it that many of the countries
of the South, in Asia and South America, has so successfully utilised the
services of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) to
assist in industrial development and, whether we have approached this
partnership optimally? For instance, it is possible that constructive
cooperation between Africa and Asia could be taking place within the framework
of Unido where already a number of institutional frameworks have been developed
to promote South-South cooperation. In addition, a number of resolutions and
decisions have since been adopted on this regard by the General Assembly and
other structures of the United Nations (UN), and recently gaining impetus, with
the appointment of Khande Yumkela.

Chairman, I spoke earlier of four dimensions for industrialisation in
Africa, including our relationship with the rest of the world. Let me very
briefly mention the other three: Firstly, this conference has raised this issue
of a common, continental industrial policy and action plan. This is an
important vision and bold ambition. It is therefore desirable for us to
thoroughly assess the specific recommendations in each of the specific areas
outlined with a view to developing a common perspective on this matter.

The second dimension relates sequentially to this continental wide
industrial policy. We should consider whether one way of achieving this bold
ambition is through smaller but important steps. By this I mean we should
consider the advantages of regions establishing platforms to encourage deeper
regional economic integration, based on specific advantages-in sugar or maize
for instance. Should we not be seeking out those things that create a framework
for industrial development? This also underscores the importance for regions to
study there own environments to identify possible platforms. In particular,
should we perhaps not first consider the elements that enable sustainable
industrial development for our regions? An example of this is the presentation
on Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs) that was delivered by Paul Jourdan of
Mintek, yesterday. Our experience in this region is that the provision of these
very things like roads and other infrastructure is a critical first step in
further investment and industrial development.

The final but by no means least important dimension is that of policy,
planning and implementation issues. Here, we must continue to address matter
such as the role and capability of the state, especially in relation to
resource allocation for industrial development.

In conclusion, I wish to quote leading African intellectual, Professor Ali
Mazrui, he writes: "African states have experienced economic shifts and turns.
It started with the slave trade, which dragged African labour itself into the
emerging internationalist capitalist system. This was the era of the
territorial imperative, as the West demanded from Africa not just labour but
territory and its promise in all its dimensions."

I chose this quote because there are times that I wonder whether the
experience of the exploitation of our Continent, has not mediated our
confidence, our belief of what we are capable of achieving. Ultimately, I do
not think so. But we do have a heavy responsibility to ensure that our
deliberations result in action, we must use this opportunity to arrive at
practical and concrete initiatives. Even if these actions appear as isolated
clouds at first, we would be wise to be inspired by the poetry of Agostino
Neto, Once the clouds blown by the wind of history has gathered, no one can
stop the rain.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
24 September 2007
Source: Department of Trade and Industry (http://www.dti.gov.za)