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Mr. Saleh M. Nsouli
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Abstract

Adopted in 2001, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) represents a new vision to place African countries on a path toward poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and full integration in the world economy. This conference volume includes papers selected from a high-level seminar in December 2002 held in Dakar, Senegal, organized by the IMF Institute in the context of the program of the Joint Africa Institute (JAI). The papers focus on the challenges confronting NEPAD in reducing poverty, promoting trade, attracting capital flows, and effecting institutional reforms.

© 2004 International Monetary Fund

Production: IMF Multimedia Services Division

Cover: IMF Multimedia Services Division

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

The new partnership for Africa’s development: macroeconomics, institutions, and poverty / editor, Saleh M. Nsouli — [Washington, D.C.] : African Development Bank : International Monetary Fund : World Bank [2004].

  • p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 1-58906-262-0

Stems from a high-level seminar held in Dakar, Senegal, December 9–11, 2002, organized by the IMF Institute in the context of the program of the Joint Africa Institute (JAI).

1. New Partnership for Africa’s Development. 2. Poverty—Africa. 3. Africa—Economic policy. I. Nsouli, Saleh M. II. African Development Bank. II. International Monetary Fund.

HC800.N36 2004

Price: $23.00

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Contents

  • Foreword

  • Acknowledgments

    • 1. Introduction: NEPAD—A New Vision Saleh M. Nsouli and Norbert Funke

    • 2. Opening Remarks Saleh M. Nsouli and Omar Kabbaj

    • 3. Keynote Address Abdoulaye Wade

    • 4. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development: Opportunities and Challenges Norbert Funke and Saleh M. Nsouli

    • 5. Poverty and Its Eradication T. N. Srinivasan

    • 6. Promoting Trade: Regional Integration and the Global Economy F. O. Ndukwe

    • 7. Policy Reform and Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: Absolute Progress But Relative Decline Elizabeth Asiedu

    • 8. The NEPAD Economic and Corporate Governance Initiative: Building Institutions for Sustainable Development Soumana Sako

    • 9. The Role of Regional Institutions in Achieving NEPAD’s Goals Charles Konan Banny

    • 10. What the IMF Can Do to Support NEPAD Abdoulaye Bio-Tchané

    • 11. Developments and Actions in NEPAD’s Implementation Isaac Aluko-Olokun

    • 12. Summing Up: Taking Stock and Future Steps Evangelos A. Calamitsis

  • Contributors

Foreword

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) represents a new vision and strategic framework for Africa’s economic and social development. Adopted in 2001, NEPAD has provided renewed impetus to efforts focused on accelerating growth, reducing poverty, and integrating Africa into the world economy, consistent with the Millennium Development Goals. NEPAD’s objectives are ambitious: a targeted annual rate of growth of about 7 percent and a reduction by half of the population living in extreme poverty by 2015. These are by no means easy targets to achieve. However, substantial progress is possible if all parties involved commit to the NEPAD spirit and implement appropriate policy reforms.

To discuss important elements of success for NEPAD, the Joint Africa Institute, which is a collaborative institution established by the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, held a high-level seminar in Dakar during December 9–11, 2002. The seminar brought together ministers, governors, and other senior officials from some 20 African countries, as well as donor representatives, academics, and staff from regional and international institutions. The selected seminar contributions in this volume cover a broad range of issues, focusing on the challenges confronting NEPAD in reducing poverty, promoting trade, attracting capital flows, and effecting institutional reforms. They help to identify how the principles embodied in NEPAD can be transformed into policy actions and be successfully implemented.

The chapters in this volume underscore that NEPAD provides a continent-wide framework but, at the same time, that each country will have to formulate its own development strategy, with a comprehensive program of action that best suits its specific circumstances. The effective implementation of proven good practices, both in national policy agendas and in regional and international cooperation, will be central to progress on the NEPAD initiative. All segments of the population must understand and take ownership of NEPAD’s goals and the requisite actions.

A two-pillar approach can form an important basis for the success of NEPAD—African countries implementing appropriate domestic policies and the international community providing adequate support. Increased international support will also be needed for capacity and institution building in Africa. Our three institutions—the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank—fully support the ongoing efforts. We hope that this volume will contribute to deepening the understanding of the opportunities offered by and the challenges facing NEPAD. The tasks that remain are enormous and require unprecedented efforts by all parties involved.

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Acknowledgments

Many people contributed to the success of the high-level seminar, “The New Partnership for Africa’s Development” held in Dakar, Senegal, on December 9–11, 2002, and to the making of this book. I want to express my appreciation to the seminar participants whose presentations and interventions made for such a lively discussion and to the authors for the insightful set of papers published in this volume.

I am grateful to the Joint Africa Institute—a collaborative effort of the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank—for organizing the seminar. The staff of the Joint Africa Institute, and particularly its director, Michael Bauer, spared no effort in making the seminar a success.

I greatly appreciate the assistance and support of Evangelos Calamit-sis, former director of the IMF African Department, and Norbert Funke, currently senior economist in the IMF African Department, in the organization of the seminar and for reviewing these papers.

I would also like to thank Farah Ebrahimi, Ian McDonald, and Sheldon Annis for their excellent editing of this volume. Special thanks are due to Marie-Therese Culp for her hard work leading to the preparation of the seminar and then this manuscript.

—Saleh M. Nsouli