In a wide-ranging address at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin Tuesday, the former President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor stressed the need for Europe to forge closer economic relations with Africa for the mutual benefit of the two continents.
Speaking on “The African Perspective on the Social Market Economy”, Mr Kufuor said Africa, with its vast human and natural resources provides excellent opportunities for investors in a win-win situation.
He observed that some of the hinderance posed by centrally-planned economies have all been converted into the structures of the free market economic model.
President Kufuor said the recent world financial crisis which resulted in all economies in any part of the world being turned upside down, has brought to the fore the need for an economic system that will endure the necessary balance between the open market system on the one hand and the regulatory authority of the state and the interest of the individual citizen on the other for sustainable development in a seamless manner.
He told the assembled audience that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 witnessed the demise of centrally-planned economic systems in many parts of the world as against the inherent and enduring strengths of the liberal market system. Today some of the bastions of the centrally-planned economies which criminalises initiative and drive of private enterprise have all been converted into the free market enterprise system, observed Mr Kufuor.
Most countries, Mr Kufuor observed are still feeling the after effects of the world financial crisis, a clear indication that all was not well in the free market economic model.
The compelling need to adopt an economic system that balances the fortunes of private enterprise with those of the state while ensuring the welfare of the individual has once again taken centre stage in the world economic affairs.
Contributing on the relationship between “Emerging Africa and Europe”, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential candidate for the 2012 elections stressed that the main strategic objective of the present generation of Africans was how they are going to transform the continents economies.
“We can no longer continue to be the source of raw materials to the industrial economies of the world. We cannot create conditions of prosperity for our people if we are essentially agricultural economies producing raw materials. We have to take part in the global economies, successfully. We must also be strong players in that economy, and that therefore, requires that, our economies, in our generation is transformed into value-added industrialising economies. So, that is the overall strategic objective.”
He said Africa was not just talking about gifts and handouts and charity, “we`re talking about investments in the emerging African economies. That is what we are seeking in our relations with Europe.” Nana Akuffo-Addo observed that European relations with Africa has gone over many stages: “There is a long period of colonialism and imperialist exploitation, and today, we are seeking a more balanced relationship.”
He stressed that so long as Europe continues to look upon the economies of Africa as merely a source of raw material production, so long is it going to be difficult for us to have this strategic partnership.
Commenting on President Kufuor`s address, Dr Mohamed Osman, President of the Berlin-based International Africa Academy, stressed the need for African governments to come to grips with the ethics of good leadership. He observed that 50 years after independence, Africa, blessed with abundance human and natural resources was still the least developed continent on earth.
“Successful governance does not depend on excellent GDP (Gross Domestic Product) figures. What is crucial is how much of those figures translate into easing the plight of the majority of Africans who are wallowing and continues to wallow in abject poverty. How much of those figures are invested in healthcare, education, housing and the provision of affordable living standards for the majority of Africans?
“The key to Africa`s success and emancipation from poverty”, Dr Osman observed, “lies in investment in its people, namely, education, education, education”.