Africa needs more help from international community, Annan says

The international community needs to support concerted efforts by African countries to implement a joint plan for development on their continent, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urges in a new report released today.

"African countries are making considerable progress," he says in his second report on the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), but added they still needed more aid, debt relief, foreign investment and further help in trade.

The report, which comes in response to a General Assembly resolution adopted last December, indicates that the international community did make some progress in their support for the implementation of NEPAD, but largely failed to register a solid impact as contradictory donor policies and international trade practices remained unchanged throughout the year.

The report shows some increase in aid in the past two years, but notes that that amount is still far below than what Africa received more than 20 years ago. In 1990, official development assistance to the region was no less than $26 billion. Compared to that amount, the continent received only $22.2 billion in aid in 2002 - an amount almost equivalent to what Africa paid in external debt servicing costs.

So far, 23 countries have received some debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries' (HIPC) initiative. However, even for the 11 African countries which are eligible for extensive debt cancellation, there is "not much hope for debt sustainability, according to the Secretary-General. As a result, "there is now an increasing call for a new framework for sustainability" that goes beyond HIPC.

Mr. Annan says the continent needed reforms in agricultural trade, including elimination of agricultural subsidies in developed countries, which place the continent's exports at a "competitive disadvantage."

In the past 30 years, Africa's share of the world market has declined dramatically, says the Secretary-General, bringing estimated income loss of $70 billion a year - almost five times what Africa receives in aid annually.