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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters More equitable growth
By Dina EzzatA meeting for the African group of member states of the Common Fund For Commodities (CFC) was held late last week in Cairo.
The "Regional Round Table Meeting on Commodity Development in Africa" opened in Cairo on 8 November. For three days participants from a host of African countries, as well as agriculture and food-related regional and international organisations debated possible practical measures and political moves that might be taken by countries whose economies are dependent largely on commodity exports.
The CFC is an autonomous inter-governmental financial institution established within the framework of the United Nations. Its founding agreement was negotiated during the UN Conferences on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) between 1976 and 1980, and became effective in 1989.
There are 104 CFC member states, in addition to the European Union, the Organisation of African Unity and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
The CFC finances international buffer stocks and promotes consultations over commodity related issues, receiving money from donors to spend on projects submitted by developing countries.
CFC projects aim at reducing poverty through improving the structural conditions of markets and enhancing the long-term competitiveness and prospects of commodities important to the developing and least developing countries. In the past, the CFC helped Egypt to improve the quality of its cotton crop and is currently financing projects in several African and Latin American countries to increase bananas exports by developing and improving the range of varieties.
Coffee and cocoa are both high on the CFC's African agenda, with two workshops during the Cairo meeting addressing the increasing failure of African countries to match the volume of production of unprocessed cocoa and coffee with the processed commodities of both crops.
The CFC meeting also discussed ways to improve the overall situation of commodity-dependent developing countries in Africa -- particularly with an eye on the increasing role of the private sector. It also debated the need to improve competitiveness, marketing and market access for African commodities as markets are increasingly liberalised.
The CFC Cairo meeting convened only a few days before WTO member states send their delegations to Seattle for the Third Ministerial WTO conference -- widely expected to be the scene of much wrangling over the trade in agricultural commodities and agricultural processed products.
Commodity dependent countries face particularly difficult development challenges in an economic environment increasingly characterised by cut-throat global competition and a persistent decline in commodity prices.
In a speech addressed to the opening session of the Cairo meeting, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa argued that the time has come for African countries to reconsider their policies on basic commodities to avoid further marginalisation in the increasingly competitive world economy. "It is no longer acceptable that the African continent remains largely dependent on the revenues of exports of basic commodities without working on improving or developing those exports".
According to recent WTO statistics, Africa's share of the total volume of world exports stood at no more than two per cent compared with five per cent for Latin America and 17.6 per cent for Asia. Moreover, Africa's share of the a total of $6.4 billion in international investments is limited to 1.5 per cent. Meanwhile, Africa's total foreign debt is estimated at $350 billion, the equivalent of about 65 per cent of Africa's GDP.
The CFC's biggest challenge, said Befekadu Degefe, a senior economic officer, is in Africa. It is in this continent, argued Slimata Some-Traore, spokesperson of the CFC African Executive Directors, that new and innovative development trends need to be formulated and implemented.
