ALGERIA: African heads of state meet to review the progress of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) programme of continental economic renewal in Algiers

African leaders seeking to buttress growth in the continent's economy set a 12-month timetable on Wednesday (March 21) for reducing red tape and duplication in Africa's push for foreign investment. Crime, corruption, insecurity and wars continue to scare away foreign investment but competition for the best business opportunities has sharpened markedly since a surge in Chinese commercial activities in Africa began four years ago. A mini-summit of African leaders in Algeria said an economic revival programme known as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) would be integrated into the daily working life of the African Union (AU) between June 2007 and June 2008. The NEPAD initiative commits African leaders to promote democracy and good governance in return for increased Western investment, trade and debt relief. NEPAD was launched with great fanfare by the AU's predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, in 2001. It has yet to deliver much in the way of tangible benefits for Africa and some critics have dismissed it as a talking shop. Exactly how the NEPAD and AU teams would end the overlap of responsibilities would be worked out during the 12 months, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo told a news conference. Against expectations, the summit chose to continue to use the continent's economic powerhouse South Africa as a base for NEPAD. Many officials had expected the leaders to agree to move NEPAD's staff to Addis Ababa, the AU's organisational home. NEPAD has a $110 billion, 10-year fund-raising target for economic recovery and aims to promote major public works to boost trade among Africa's regions, which have long lacked good pan-continental air, road, rail and energy connections.

ITN Source | March 22, 2007

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