Examination of Witnesses (Questions 20-21)
MR MYLES
WICKSTEAD
12 OCTOBER 2004
Q20 Mr Battle: I am almost tempted to
suggest that we need an Integration Commission rather than an
Africa Commission.
Mr Wickstead: I think it is very,
very important that one should not be giving with one hand what
one is taking away with the other. We all know stories of the
European Commission on the one hand supporting livestock projects
in Botswana and then on the other hand not allowing that livestock
to be exported into the European Union.
Q21 Mr Battle: I would hope that the
report causes trouble at the G8 and the European Union meetings,
rather than it is just noted as a report. Do you think there is
a possibility of that? Could it be controversial and light a few
bonfires in the right places?
Mr Wickstead: I think with the
composition that we have on the Commission of very lively, thoughtful,
energetic people, it is extremely unlikely that we will end up
with a tame report. I think it will be controversial. The trick
for the Commission will be to make it radical, make it controversial,
make it difficult but not so off the wall, if you like, that the
G8 leaders simply say, "Sorry, we are not interested in this."
That is their political judgment to reach that point.
Chairman: Myles, thank you very much
for spending time with us. Just picking up on a few points that
were made. I think Quentin's point about parliamentarians, as
we visited a lot of countries in Africa we have been very conscious
that there is a lot of support for governance, there is a lot
of engagement with civil society, but that African parliamentarians
tend sometimes to get lost in this. I think there is a general
feeling in this House that this was an area where, through the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and other ways, we could
and should be able to do a lot more in trying to help to improve
the capacity and build capacity of fellow parliamentarians in
Africa. We will certainly be submitting a response to the consultation
document when it is put out. I think it will be a fairly blunt
think-piece, fairly pointed and, I suspect, hearing the voices
of this Committee, you have heard the difficulties that we as
a Committee and I am sure that you as a Commissioner are grappling
with all the time, on the one hand are articulated by the points
that John has just put forward about the need for coherence on
trade and debt and other areas of policy from us, but also I think
this Committee would also want the Commission to go away and recognise
the points that Andrew, Quentin and others have made, that this
is not a one-sided exercise; that governance has also to come
from our partners in Africa, and the House and our constituents
and others are as concerned about Darfur and about Zimbabwe. I
think for many of us the fact that President Museveni looks as
though he is going to go on beyond 2006, for all of us Uganda
was one of those countries that we held up as a great example—that
is pretty depressing. So I think we will want to see the Commission
face up to both sides of that equation if it is really going to
be doing its work effectively. Thank you very much for coming
and spending time with us this afternoon.
|
