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afrol News, 21 April - The Minister of Finance and Economy of Ghana, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, yesterday at a press conference emphasised the importance of fair trade, foreign investments and democracy are cornerstones of development and of the fight against poverty. A central message was "that we must fight poverty faster than we are fighting it now." Speaking at a press briefing by African Finance Ministers organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C. yesterday, Mr. Osafo-Maafo also stressed he and his colleagues were "very clear that governance, fight against corruption, economic governance are the pillars now of sustainable development." - We believe that the cornerstone of development in our country will have to hinge on the development of the private sector, Osafo-Maafo said, referring to the importance of foreign investments. "It is not only the engine of growth, but that engine must have fuel in it. People have talked about the engine of growth. If you have an engine without fuel, you won't go far." Minister Osafo-Maafo dedicated much importance to trade. Asked what he though about "hypocritical" Western policies of limited trade access, he answered that trade indeed was "really important, and providing access to African goods is very key to our development." Osafo-Maafo went on mentioning the case of cocoa in Ghana. "We are able to sell, without any duty, the bean to Europe. But when we sell the butter and chocolate, we have tariffs on them. That obviously cannot assist Ghana to process its beans at home, because when you process the beans, you have a problem exporting." This situation was an "unfairness that must be addressed." It was becoming very clear that what Africa needed "at the moment is fair trade, and the aid should come as supplementary," he added. Also African countries by themselves could improve the trade situation by promoting regional integration, "so that Africa can have bigger markets within sub regions." As single countries, one was talking about populations between 2.5 and 20 million, "but together, we offer a market of 260 million." Osafo-Maafo also invited the IMF to strengthen the regional integration of the continent. New numbers presented at the Washington meeting showed that the UN's Millennium Development Goals to eliminate poverty were not on track to be reached by 2015. Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, poverty was foreseen to grow until well after 2015, the population living in extreme poverty (revenues under US$ 1 a day) rising from 300 million in 1999 to 345 million in 2015. - All of us cannot reach them at the same time, the Ghanaian Finance Minister commented on the negative numbers. "Just like Europe; I don't believe that today, the EU has the same GDP or the EU has the same per capita, and that is the story of Africa as well. So it is possible that some of us will be there faster than others." - It is therefore important when you talk about this for the IMF and the World Bank to recognize the need for Africa to learn from each other, he added. "I believe that it is better to make sure that as soon as practicable, some African countries become the role models for others. And when that is done, the development will be faster." That was what had happened in other cases also, Osafo-Maafo said. Ghana was the first African country to be independent, in 1957. "Five years after that, there were 39 other African countries that have become independent. Ghana was also the first of the African countries to have a military coup of the lower ranks. Five years after that, almost 15 other African countries had a coup at that level." Now, Ghana had learned from its neighbours that democracy, good governance and freedom were important to develop. "For the first time in the history of Ghana, Ghana changed government through the ballot box at the end of the year 2000. And this, no doubt, had a very tremendous effect on the population," he said. Sources: Based on IMF and afrol archives
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