Interview: ADB group president, Omar Kabbaj--'Africa will take possession of its own development

ADB Group President, Omar Kabbaj

The African Development Bank Group's next annual meeting, on 28-30 of May at the Addis Ababa UN Conference Centre, is expected to be a watershed in the economic history of Africa. Some 1,500 private and public sector managers, including Finance Ministers of the Bank Group's 77 member countries will attend.

In addition, African Heads of State will attend the ABD's yearly symposium on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) on 27 May. On the eve of this historic meeting, African Business editor Anver Versi interviews the ADB Group's President, Omar Kabbaj (right).

African Business: The latest buzz word among African governments is Nead Is this yet another `talking-shop' action plan or can we expect concrete results and if so, what sort of results?

Omar Kabbaj: As you are aware, Nepad is a home-grown African initiative that was inspired by the UN Millennium Declaration approved by 149 world leaders in September 2000. It called for a new partnership and a pledge to assist African countries in their struggle for lasting peace, poverty reduction, and sustainable development.

As stated by the five African founding fathers, the primary goal of Nepad is to eradicate poverty in Africa, and to place African countries, individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development and thus halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process.

It is a shift of development paradigm from passive development assistance to active development assistance through a partnership framework in which both the donor community as well as the African countries are called upon to take on their respective roles and responsibilities of the development agenda.

Thus, Nepad is consistent with the generally accepted development paradigm as it calls on African leaders to accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty by strengthening governance, implementing sound macroeconomic policies, and boosting domestic savings mobilisation. It is also an expression of the determination of African leaders to assume the ownership of the development process.

AB: What is the organisational structure of Nepad?

OK: At the 37th OAU summit in Lusaka, Zambia, where Nepad was adopted by the African Heads of State in July 2001, a four-- tier governing structure was created.

It was decided that the OAU/AU Summit of Heads of State and Government shall be the decision-making body. The day-to-- day management and implementation of the initiative was delegated to the 15-member Heads of State Implementation Committee (HSIC).

Next, the Steering Committee, which is made up of the personal representatives of the five initiating states (Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa) was given the responsibility for developing terms of reference for identified programs and projects and also overseeing the activities of the Nepad Secretariat.

The Nepad Secretariat, which is made up of a small full-time core staff based in Midrand, South Africa, was charged with functions of liaison, co-ordination, administration and logistics in support of the Initiative.

The Steering Committee is liaising closely with selected development partners as lead agencies to secure their advice in their respective areas of technical expertise to formulate concrete regional projects and programs in the targeted areas of intervention.

AB: Can you outline Nepad's priorities?

OK: The priority areas and lead agencies providing technical support are summarised as follows:

* Peace, Security, Democracy and Political Governance (OAU);

* Economic and Corporate Governance (UNECA);

* Regional Co-operation and Integration (OAU);

* Infrastructure, including: Information and Communications Technology (ICT); Energy, Transport, Water and Sanitation (ADB);

* Human Development: Education and Health (ADB);

Agriculture and Environment (FAO); and

* Market Access and Export Diversification (OAU).

Short and medium term action plans are being developed along with estimates of costs and potential sources of finance. The required resources for financing the priority programs and projects would be mobilised from increasing domestic savings and capital inflows via enhanced debt relief, increased official development assistance (ODA) flows, and private capital - as well as better management of public revenue and expenditure.

AB: What is ADBs role in Nepad?

OK: The goal of Nepad is to infuse new energy, establish solid partnerships, and create a stronger basis for the development of the continent. The priority areas include: bridging the infrastructure gap in such areas as transport, power supply and telecommunications; developing Africa's human capital base; attracting larger capital flows - both public and private - to Africa through improvements in both political and economic governance systems; and expanding market access for African exports to developed countries.

African Heads of State have requested that the Bank Group, together with other continental organisations such as the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) play a major role in the implementation of Nepad.