Examination of Witnesses (Questions 100-102)
TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2003
HIS EXCELLENCY
MR MELES
ZENAWI
100. Where DFID leads others will follow?
(His Excellency Mr Zenawi) We hope so.
101. Can I move on and ask you about NEPAD,
which is a programme by Africans for Africans, bearing that in
mind what benefits do you think that NEPAD will bring to Ethiopia
and what challenges will it have for Ethiopia?
(His Excellency Mr Zenawi) The benefits to Ethiopia
of NEPAD would be threefold: Firstly, to provide a framework for
us to devise a development strategy, provide a framework for good
governance and good development strategies. We believe we have
devised our development strategy and strategy for promoting good
governance in Ethiopia in a manner that is consistent with NEPAD
training. That would be the first benefit. The second benefit
would be in promoting cross-border trade and investment. That
is made easier because, hopefully, we all design our development
strategies and good governance strategies on the same framework
as the NEPAD framework so there is one base for harmonisation
amongst us and so there is improvement in cross-border trade.
There is already improvement in cross-border trade between us
and Sudan. There is a problem of infrastructure in promoting trade
between us and Kenya because the last stretch of road between
the border and a place called Isiolo, 100 kilometres inside Kenya;
that stretch of the road has not been upgraded. It has been on
the cards for maybe 15 years, the European Union are supposed
to provide the funding but there have been problems here and there.
There is enhanced trade between us and Djibouti, although Djibouti
is not a big economy. The third benefit would be enhancing partnership
between Africa and the rest of the world and therefore enhancing
partnership between Ethiopia and the rest of the world through
NEPAD. The response of the G8 in Kananaskis was a step forward,
in my view not a complete break with past practice but a step
forward in the right direction. Hopefully in the summit in France
this year there will be further movement in the right direction.
Chairman
102. We promised to get you away by 10.48. You
have been extremely kind in answering all of our questions so
fully. As a Committee we spend a lot of our time concerned with
matters relating to international development. We were very keen
that in our inquiry on trade that we should try and hear some
voices and thank you for having been such an excellent and articulate
voice of Africa. I think for all my colleagues you have explained
very clearly to us today and put into a very clear perspective
some issues which have not been put so clearly to us by any other
witness before, not just on trade policy but on other matters
as well. For us one of the depressing factors, it must be even
more depressing for you and your colleagues, is even in years
when Ethiopia does not have a drought the number of food insecure
people have increased because of years of drought. None of us
must forget this is dependent not just on drought but on poverty,
and tackling poverty is so important. Thank you for your comments
about DFID. As a Committee next year we hope to look at poverty
reduction strategies on the ground in certain countries in Africa
and maybe that will provide us with an opportunity as a Committee
to come to Ethiopia and see some of the work that you are doing
to meet the Millennium Development Goals in Ethiopia, that would
be a good opportunity for us. Prime Minister, thank you very much
for giving us your time whilst you were in London, it was very
much appreciated. I think everything you said on the record will
be read with considerable interest by Parliamentary colleagues
and others in the Palace of Westminster. Thank you.
(His Excellency Mr Zenawi) Thank you
very much.
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