Your Excellency President Hollande;

Excellencies Fellow Leaders from Africa;

Mr. Pierre Moscovici, French Minister of Economy and Finance;

Ladies and Gentlemen:        

 

I thank you Mr. President and your esteemed government for conceiving the idea of holding this meeting on a New Economic Model between Africa and France.  I congratulate Minister Moscovici, heartily for organizing this meeting so well.  I also thank you for affording us the opportunity to speak at this landmark event.

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Africa has got all what it takes to become a prosperous continent.  The prevalent poverty is a contradiction in terms.  It can be made history and the continent can become the new economic powerhouse of this planet.

Africa is well endowed with natural resources such as land, minerals, oil and gas, forest and marine based resources.  These are critical resources for growth and development to happen. Fortunately, most of these resources are yet to be fully utilized which means the future prospects for Africa are good.

Africa has 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land.  On the average many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa get good rainfall despite the stresses and strains being caused by climate change from time to time.  Moreover, there are sizeable surface and ground water resources for irrigation.  And, with the permissive climate for agriculture, the potential for Africa to become a dependable grain basket of this world is huge.

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Eleven African countries, rank among the top ten sources for at least one major mineral in the world. Africa has 10 percent of the world’s reserves of oil.   The ongoing exploration activities across Africa are bound to increase more oil and gas resources which together with wind and solar sources of energy can produce a lot of electricity for own use and export.  My country Tanzania has been added on to the map as discoveries of gas have been made and several companies are continuing with exploration.

Ladies and Gentlemen;  

People are another important resource that Africa has in abundance.   Africa’s population is estimated to be 1.033 billion roughly 15 percent of the world’s population. There are two things worth noting about Africa’s population.  First, is that Africa has a very young population, two-third of which is below the age of 25. This means there is a huge reservoir of energetic workforce and there are prospects for further growth of Africa’s population.  Second, with expansion of education at all levels, the size of the educated workforce is increasing and the middle class is growing.  Therefore, Africa is a dynamic source of skilled and semi skilled labor force and a growing market.  On the other hand, through regional integration the African markets are being consolidated and better defined.

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Fortunately, also, in most African countries economic fundamentals are right because of pursuing sound economic policies.  As a result, most countries have strong macro-economic performance, making Africa’s future economic prospects to be very promising indeed.  The economies of many African countries are growing at rates of around 5 percent and above.  IMF forecast shows that 7 African countries will be among 10 fastest growing economies in the world during 2011 – 2015.  Because of improved macro-economic environment as well as business and investment climate, foreign direct investment flows to Africa have registered significant increase in the last decade. For example, between the year 2000 and 2010 FDIs to Africa increased from US$ 27 billion to US$ 126 billion.  But this is far too small.  Africa needs and can absolve much more than this amount.  Africa can absolve 10 times this amount and still leave a lot of potential untapped.

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Democracy is taking roots as the multiparty system has become the norm rather than the exception for over two decade now.  There are regular periodic elections being held in all countries.  The good thing is the elections are now better organized and the people get the opportunity to elect leaders of their choice.  Governance has improved tremendously. There is greater awareness and strong commitment to observe human rights and deal with corruption and other social vices.

The security situation on the continent, has improved significantly.  There are by far, fewer conflicts raging in Africa, now than they were two decades or a decade ago.  And, what is even more encouraging is the fact that most conflicts are managed and resolved by Africans themselves through mechanisms and initiatives of the African Union and Regional Economic Groupings.  Africa’s political and governance landscape has changed for the better and things look more promising in future.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Africa needs partnership with France and other countries both in the developed and developing nations to exploit its potential.  Africa needs partners with capital, technology, know-how and market to transform Africa’s potential into goods and services to increase the wealth of our nations and our people.  That is why we find this meeting to be quite opportune indeed.  The 800 captains of industry gathered here are the very people we are looking for.  They are the appropriate answer to the longstanding question about a new model for addressing poverty and development challenges facing Africa.  A model which underscores the fact that Official Development Assistance alone is not enough.  Indeed, ODA has been useful in helping our nations build capacity to deal with the teething challenges impeding growth and development.  We still need ODA for capacity building in areas such as education, infrastructure, social and economic services etc.  We appreciate the fact that, ODA needs to be combined with investments in the productive and service sectors to make the comprehensive difference we all desire.

In this context therefore, the New Economic Model being proposed should hinge on increased investment and trade without undermining the role of ODA, where necessary. This way African nations will build own capacity and become less dependent on ODA.  In other words, under the envisaged model, investment and trade have to be viewed as sustainable ways of generating needed investment resources which can make poor countries achieve growth in a more sustainable manner than being  predominantly dependent on ODA.

In this regard, Africa invites FDI in the form of private investment, joint venture, or public-private partnership in infrastructure, agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, ICT, petrochemical industries and other potential areas deemed as potential. Africa has a huge market, a growing middle class and a rising human capital base.

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

France and Africa relationship has to fit in the emerging global trend marked by increasing global investment and trade inter-linkages. This calls for the need to focus more on economic and trade relationship while a certain levels of financial and technical support is maintained.

The benefits, however, are not automatic given different levels of economic and technological development.  We need to take deliberate policy and administrative measures that would create conducive environment for mutual benefit.  Indeed issues of market access and preferential treatment of products from Africa is essential.

Furthermore, Excellencies, our governments must encourage and support private sector to invest in each other’s country.  Fortunately, this is already happening in all African nations.  Besides that there are policies and frameworks in place to promote and protect private investment throughout the African continent, Tanzania included.  There is no doubt that there is a lot of business potential in Africa and African governments are committed to work with the France to utilize that potentials for our mutual benefit.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

In the envisaged economic model between Africa and France, we expect France to play an important role in supporting infrastructure and human resource development in Africa, which is key to unlocking supply constraints.  Africa has not been able to utilize various preferential trade opportunities offered by European Union such as “Everything But Arms” partly because of weak supply side capacity.  We expect France to also support human development efforts and regional integration, both of which are key in increasing Africa’s capacity to manage the economy and expand trade and output.         Let me reiterate that we in Africa are ready to work with government of France and French private sector in a win-win arrangement for mutual benefit.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Let me conclude by once again thanking President Hollande and the Government of France for organizing this important conference which has afforded us the opportunity to exchange views on how best we can improve our economic relations in a win-win- manner. I would like to reiterate that, Africa has all that is required to make her an economic power house of the 21^st Century.  There are abundant resources that are yet to be exploited and the political – economic environment is permissive.  Our governments and people are ready to work in partnership with France, other developed countries and international private sector like the captains of industry and business that are part of this audience. Africa is ready to do business with you to develop Africa’s potential for our mutual benefit.  In the process Africa will cease to be a poor and basket case and become not only a prosperous continent but the new emerging economic power house of this century.

Thank you