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Africa Moyo in VICTORIA FALLS
ZIMBABWE has taken over as chair of the Conference of Ministers of Finance, Economic Planning and Development in Africa for the next 12 months, and will strive to promote economic development on the continent.
Addressing journalists on the second day of the 56th Session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance here yesterday, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said Zimbabwe was happy to become the new chair.
“Zimbabwe is taking over the chairmanship of the Conference of Ministers of Finance, Economic Planning and Development in Africa over the next 12 months,” he said.“We are also grateful to South Africa who were due to become the chair but allowed us to go ahead of them and become the chair.”
Prof Ncube said during Zimbabwe’s chairmanship, he would seek to drive Africa’s agenda, amplify the continent’s voice in terms of economic development and promote trade, first within Africa itself and then with the rest of the world.
Some of the issues expected to come under discussion in the next 12 months include the cost of transitioning to greener economies, the cost of investing in greener and inclusive infrastructure, promoting trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area, driving investment and restructuring the global financial system.
“That will be my job; I have to act as champion this year, using this platform that Zimbabwe has been given as chairman of the Conference of Ministers. Zimbabwe will also contribute towards thought leadership around Africa’s development conundrums, and Zimbabwe will also learn from other countries,” he said.
The post comes as Zimbabwe is due to take over as SADC Chair for 12 months from August. Turning to the progress with respect of the ongoing conference, Prof Ncube said he was “very pleased that Zimbabwe was able to host this significant conference”.
The conference was running under the theme: “Financing the transition to inclusive green economies in Africa: Imperatives, opportunities, and policy options.”
Prof Ncube said the word “inclusive” meant leaving no one behind in terms of policies and greener economies. Zimbabwe had been climate-proofing its agriculture under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa concept to boost yields, but that required a lot of investment to bring good harvests.
During the conference that ends on Tuesday next week, Prof Ncube said ministers would tackle rethinking the architecture of the global financial system so that vulnerable countries in Africa could also benefit. The cost of transitioning to greener economies would also come under discussion, as costs were higher on the continent.
“For instance, to climate-proof agriculture, it costs money; Pfumvudza costs money but the benefits are enormous. So, thinking about a global financial system that supports the poor countries is what we will be attacking here.”
The first day went well, said Prof Ncube, with delegates looking at the macro picture in Africa where countries have seen rising gross domestic product ratios in the last few years.
For instance, debt levels were around 20 percent to 30 percent on average in 2012, but have now jumped to about 60 percent.
“So clearly, this is an issue that we should deal with in Africa. Rising debt levels mean the shock absorbers have been weakened over time.
“We have also seen rising budget deficits as partly explaining the debt levels. So that has weakened our shock absorbers to deal with shocks such as climate shocks and also the transition to greener energies.”
Other discussions centred around the transition into greener forms of energy but with opportunities for investment in the solar and hydro sectors and taking advantage of carbon credits to finance economic development.
Prof Ncube said Zimbabwe’s tree planting activities were a source of carbon credits to raise additional funding to finance economic development. In the spirit of leaving no one and no place behind, communities where the trees are coming from should also benefit.
President Mnangagwa has reiterated that communities should benefit from all resources exploited in their areas including minerals.
Prof Ncube said on Wednesday and yesterday, they had some of the statutory meetings.
“This will culminate in His Excellency the President officially opening the conference on Monday and then we close the conference on Tuesday,” said Prof Ncube.
Online Reporter