Köhler, Wolfensohn meet with African leaders to discuss economic challenges facing region

• Pages: 69-70

Page 69

During February 20-25, in an unprecedented joint visit to sub-Saharan countries, IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler and World Bank President James Wolfensohn met African leaders to discuss the pressing economic problems their countries face and endorsed the need for a new approach to achieving the objectives of stronger economic growth and poverty reduction.

Köhler and Wolfensohn joined in a meeting in Mali with heads of state from western and central Africa, and subsequently participated in a similar meeting in Tanzania for heads of state from eastern and southern Africa. They also visited Nigeria and Kenya for discussions with the heads of state of those countries.

Speaking at a conference on child poverty, education, and health in London on February 26, Köhler summed up his main conclusions from the meetings with African leaders, saying that "one of the strongest impressions I took away from the joint discussions- was that these leaders increasingly recognize their own responsibility to address homegrown causes of poverty."He identified three main areas of progress in the region:

* "an awareness in Africa that any effort to reduce poverty must start with-and build upon-peace, democracy, and good governance at home."

* "a recognition that the prospects for rapid growth -will depend on the ability of these countries to unlock the creative energies of their people."

* "an increasing awareness among African leaders that stronger regional cooperation and integration is indispensable to increase the competitiveness of their economies."

(For excerpts from Köhler's London remarks, please see page 71.)

Bamako meeting

Opening their tour in Bamako,Mali, on February 20, Köhler and Wolfensohn discussed the pressing problems of African debt and poverty with 10 west African leaders at a meeting hosted by Malian President Alpha Oumar Konaré, the current head of the Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS). Other presidents attending the meeting included Omar Bongo of Gabon, Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone, John Kufuor of Ghana, Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro of Cape Verde, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Didier Ratsiraka of Madagascar,Mamadou Tanja of Niger, and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. After the meeting, Köhler said thatPage 70 the talks represented "a major step forward to define a new approach to fight poverty in Africa."

The following day, Köhler...