Addis Ababa, 1 June 2003 (ECA) - The Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development opened here today with calls for a new initiative on Africa's debt, and pointed questions on the future role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Africa.

In his opening statement this morning, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary, K. Y. Amoako, stressed the need for Africa to think beyond the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and come up with "new policies, instruments and initiatives that can constitute the next step in the international community's efforts to reduce Africa's debt burden".

To help develop a new African strategy on debt, Mr. Amoako proposed that ECA convene an International Conference on African Debt Relief in early 2004. At the suggestion of President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, and prior to the proposed conference, ECA would hold an African Experts Group Meeting on debt relief in September 2003.

Today's Conference is organized by ECA on the theme "Towards greater policy coherence and mutual accountability for development effectiveness'. The Ministers are discussing: Mutual Accountability, Policy Coherence and Development Effectiveness; Making the IMF Work Better for Africa; and the Macroeconomic Implications of HIV/AIDS.

In his opening statement, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel exhorted his fellow Ministers to look critically at the proposal to split the IMF's African Department, a proposal that had been arrived at without consultation with African countries.

"It is of tremendous concern to us that the IMF is currently considering to divide the Africa Department into two," said Mr. Manuel. "Will it be along old colonial lines, or into north and south? We don't know. What we know, is that Europe is not being divided, nor is America. Europe is in fact being unified as the former Eastern Europe joins into the European Union. I think it is time for decisions in the IMF no longer to be imposed on us, but to derive from consultation with us… We should be stressing repeatedly: 'nothing about us without us'."

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who joined the meeting mid-morning, stressed that the debate should be less about making the IMF irrelevant to Africa, and more about finding ways to making the IMF work better for Africa's needs. Citing the IMF as a key institution in the international financial architecture, Prime Minister Meles warned that proposals to alienate the IMF from Africa's development ran the risk of "pushing Africa into the ghettos of the international financial system".

Mr. Manuel, who is Chair of the Conference, also announced that a consultative meeting would be held later today in Addis Ababa between African Finance Ministers and officials of the United Kingdom Treasury to further discuss Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's recent proposal for an International Financing Facility (IFF). The meeting will follow recent discussions between African Ministers and Mr. Brown in London.

The IFF is designed to provide additional financing to help meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Facility is based on long-term, conditional funding guaranteed to the poorest countries by the richest countries. On the basis of these long-term donor commitments, the Facility would leverage additional funding from the international capital markets, seeking to raise development assistance from its current US$ 50 billion a year to US$ 100 billion between now and 2015.

At the end of the Conference, a Ministerial Statement will be issued reflecting key points of consensus and recommendations to be taken up in forthcoming global fora.

In addition to the Ministers, central bank governors, leading academics and researchers, and international partners are in attendance. The Conference is being held back-to-back with the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (ADB), taking place at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa. The ECA and the ADB are jointly sponsoring the Annual Meetings Symposium, to be held on 2 June and previously a hallmark of the ADB Annual Meetings.

Issued by the ECA Communication Team
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