The Presidents of Mali and Sao Tomé and Principe and UNCTAD's Secretary-General urged African officials meeting in Mali to strive to use the continent's vast natural resources for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction
11 Nov 2009
The Presidents of Mali and Sao Tomé and Principe and UNCTAD's Secretary-General urged African officials meeting in Mali to strive to use the continent's vast natural resources for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.
Amadou Toumani Touré, President of Mali, told the 13th African Oil, Gas & Minerals Trade and Finance Conference that it is time to end the "African paradox," which he termed an abundance of valuable natural resources combined with widespread poverty.
Fradique de Menezes, President of Sao Tomé and Principe, who also attended the UNCTAD-coordinated conference, held this year in the Malian capital of Bamako, echoed the message that Africa's energy and mining resources should be used to raise general living standards. He added that Sao Tomé and Principe, whose petroleum reserves are now under development, would be interested in hosting next year's conference.
The point of the gathering, Mr. Supachai said, is "not only to make high returns but also to boost prosperity and explore ways of fostering partnerships, including by helping importing countries to manage high volatility in prices and overcome energy security challenges."
The theme of this year's conference is "Natural resources development: capturing value from information" and it runs from 10-13 November.
Taming volatility in African resource prices was the original focus of the UNCTAD-organized oil and gas conference when it was first staged in 1996. Over 400 participants from more than 30 countries are attending at this year's gathering, including 22 African government ministers for energy and mining.
The conference will feature, as it does every year, deal-making and discussion on such issues as governance, energy security, regional cooperation, and renewable energy. Mining issues were added to the agenda in 2008, making the conference's focus on natural resources still more comprehensive.
The annual meeting has evolved into a platform for developing public-private partnerships in the field of natural resources, and for identifying and assessing related investment opportunities. It also focuses on highlighting the best polices and legal frameworks for generating sustainable economic progress from natural-resource extraction. In recent years it has served as an occasion for building intra- regional partnerships based on trade and investment between developing countries -- otherwise known as "South-South cooperation".
