UN chief to convey African message to G20

Source: Xinhua | 03-11-2009 16:07

DAR ES SALAAM, March 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations secretary-general will personally convey the message from the IMF conference for African finance ministers and central bank governors to the G-20 Leaders' Summit to be held next month in London.

The assurance was given on Wednesday by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro who spoke at the second-day plenary session of the IMF conference.

"Secretary-General Ban will carry this message to the G-20 Leaders' Summit in April in London," said Madam Migiro, "Just as he did at the G-20 Summit in Washington. The secretary-general will seek to bridge the concerns of the G-20 and those of the global community."

The two-day IMF conference was forging its final message which may turn out to include two basic facets: Africa has the primary responsibility to deal with the fallout from the ongoing global financial crisis and the international community must meet their aid commitments and accelerate their assistance once the extent of the damage from the crisis is known.

"Today's conference, coming just three weeks ahead of the G-20 Summit in London, must rally support to protect Africa's achievements," said the deputy UN chief.

Thanks to assistance from the international community, Africa has seen growth in recent past, with some countries registering annual growth rates between 6 to 7 percent which have in turn led to low inflation, strong fiscal balances, growing foreign exchange reserves and large increases in foreign direct investment.

But the IMF has warned out that without the honoring of aid commitments, Africa's achievements could slip away in the face of encroaching financial crisis and economic downturn which are causing commodity prices to fall and market demands for African products to shrink. "Africa's isolation from international capital markets does not protect it from global economic turmoil," said Madam Migiro,

"To the contrary, it limits Africa's options for financing the Millennium Development Goals. As tourism, remittances and foreign investment dry up, many African countries are left with few means to earn foreign exchange." The deputy UN secretary-general stressed that there is no alternative that any aid commitment must be met to help the achievement of the MDGs.

Editor:Zhang Yun