What Cannes the G20 do for Africa?

Next week, the leaders of the G20 will meet in Cannes to discuss financial markets and the world economy. The summit leaders are expected to tackle several mid- and long-term policy issues, many of which remained unresolved at the end of the previous summits in Toronto and Seoul.

As the final program for the summit evolves, each G-20 nation will bring its own agenda to the summit.  But what about the voice of 172 countries – accounting for over 60% of the world’s population – how can their voices be heard when they are not sitting at the table?

Early this year, members of the Africa Progress Panel met with President Sarkozy to urge him to put development at the heart of his G20 presidency. Last week, the Panel re-issued a booklet to reiterate their views on what the G20 can do to help Africa fulfill its vast promise. These include ensuring 1) work on development continues to be part of the G20’s regular agenda and 2) donor countries reaffirm their aid commitments and increase the effectiveness of their aid. Indeed, there is now a wide recognition that Africa is needed to help overall global recovery - aid therefore is no longer about charity. A significant shift in global relations is now in progress. In an interview with TV5, our Director, Caroline Kende-Robb, conveyed the Panel’s support of the French presidency efforts especially on innovative financing, infrastructure and food security.

The Africa Progress Panel calls for reform of the international architecture to allow Africa to compete on a level playing field, and have its voice heard. Despite progress made towards a more democratic and rules-based political culture, Africa continues to be hampered by its high rates of corruption –as a result of domestic factors, such as entrenched cronyism, nepotism-- and the rise of organized crime –as a result of the behavior of international companies, unscrupulous middlemen and weak institutions. A step in the right direction is the G20's proposed action plan against corruption, which seeks to tackle the international component of corruption in Africa.  If its proposals are implemented and enforced by all G20 nations, the G20 will have changed the game in fighting corruption and proved its worth as the new forum for effective global action. The APP’s Peter Eigen argues that, “by pushing for swift action, the G20 has the chance to send an unmistakable signal of support to the continent's people and prove its worth as an effective instigator of global action.”

The Panel is urging the G20 to foster shared interest and encourage purposeful action for Africa’s progress. Kofi Annan says, each member of the G20 needs to live up to its own development commitment and begin to treat Africa as a true partner – “they know that they need to help Africa succeed if they are to keep succeeding themselves.”