Leaders at Davos appeal for eradicating poverty in Africa

African nations should focus on boosting primary education and good governance while the western countries should remove agriculture tariffs, according to several leading world figures in the World Economic Forum.

The panelists in the African development debate on Friday said that the world should shake off "poverty fatigue" and follow through on the momentum and "mountain of good will" generated from 2005 toward the goal of eradicating poverty in Africa.

Top priorities for pragmatic action, they agreed, include: exposing corruption both by givers and recipients, investing heavily in primary education, and taking aim at "sacred cows" of European, Japanese and American farm subsidies that make it impossible for African herders to compete.

Gordon Brown, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, has been pushing for universal free primary education in Africa. But he also sought strong commitment from African leaders, saying "the real question is about empowerment, and what Africa can do for itself."

One of the things Africa is showing it increasingly can do is to govern accountably, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo stressed.

"Not all our problems have disappeared, but last year elections took place in Liberia successfully, a change in government in Tanzania successfully, in Burundi successfully, and in Guinea Bissau successfully. Wow. Twenty years ago that was unthinkable," Obasanjo said.

Yet good governance alone cannot eliminate poverty without strategic investments and fair trade, panelists agreed. And the three most vital investments, they said, must come "in capital infrastructure, physical infrastructure and human infrastructure."

Source: Xinhua