Mbeki, Blair, Gates and Bono, all talking about Africa turned out to be the best session I attended this year at Davos. The discussion was about whether Northern governments are keeping their promises on aid and debt relief. It was a very realistic session covering the need for Africa to develop its own capacity and deal with corruption, but it was also rather depressing too. If you exclude the large chunks of money for debt relief for Iraq and Nigeria, aid to Africa has actually fallen slightly. I feel outraged.
We have to mobilise as many people as we can for the G8 in Germany to make sure the governments keep their promises. We also have to tell the good news about the real difference aid and debt relief have bought to African people. The most impressive person on the panel was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, and first woman president in Africa. She is a women of outstanding integrity, determined that Africa must use its own resources to help the future. What a task she has in Liberia though!
I can't talk much about trade because when I left the Ministers were still talking behind closed doors. Though I did hear at the airport that talks had officially restarted. This news - insofar as you can call it that - is welcome, only if development concerns get put higher up the agenda than they've been in recent months. The business community certainly backs a restart, and I met a lot of business people who seemed to support a fair deal as much as we do.
See full Press Release.
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