Nepad forum seeks end to poverty

2005-01-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

Presidents Olusegan Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Kufuor of Ghana, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal are expected to attend.
The forum aims to find ways to end poverty in Africa by creating wealth.
Set over two days, organisers hope to bring together participants from the public and private sectors.
They will discuss how they can combine their efforts to encourage investment and promote trade.
Failed expectations
It is all in line with the African Union's goal of finding African solutions to Africa's problems.
But it is still not clear if the meeting, which has been organised by Nigerian businessmen working within Nepad, will make a real difference.
Nepad was set up four years ago under the auspices of what was then the Organisation of African Unity.
African countries pledged to improve governance, and in return donor nations promised to lend support with increased aid.
However, despite an initially positive start, Nepad has so far failed to deliver.
Last year, the Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, who helped design the scheme, described the organisation as confused and a little unfocused.
He added that while a lot of time and money had been spent on conferences, there had been few results.

maturelast

Nepad forum seeks end to poverty