Activists attending the annual Conference of African Ministers responsible for Finance and the Economy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia have called for concrete steps to be taken to ensure the green economy becomes a reality for the continent.


Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, officially opening the meeting called for discussions on sustainable development to be speeded up.

Meles who has been elected twice by the African Union Commission as Africa's spokesperson on climate change negotiations said it was high time Africa focused on Africa's green economy.

"The debate on a new development State is welcome and long overdue for Africa," Meles told 600 delegates who included around 60 African ministers.

He called for "alternative development paradigms" because "the neo-liberal paradigm had not taken African development far."

"The neo-liberal paradigm has got Africa's development wrong both in terms of understanding the source of the underlying problem and the solution it prescribes," Meles said.

He said since African economies were largely agrarian-based, any action on green growth must first target the agriculture sector.

The fourth joint conference is being held under the theme "Governing Development in Africa: The Role of the State in Economic Transformation."

UN Under-Secretary General and executive secretary of Economic Commission for Africa, Abdoulie Janneh, highlighted the progress African countries had made in the last three years in developing the green economy.

Janneh said building green economies will be an important element in preserving the environment and humanity's common heritage.

"Despite the poor state of the global economy, Africa managed to grow, on average, by 4.5 per cent in 2010 up from 2.3 per cent in 2009 and most likely maintain a steady growth rate of about five per cent in 2011," Janneh said.

Several high profile speakers addressed the opening session of the conference, including the chairperson of the African Union Commission Jean Ping and Donald Kaberuka, the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Finance Ministers as well as those Economic and Planning, Environment and Health M will examine a wide range of recommendations tabled before them by experts.

Mthuli Ncube, the vice president and chief economist of the African Development Bankan policy-makers must take the responsibility to protect the continent's economy from external shocks and to promote global growth.

He said the continent also needs to access more funds available for climate change adaptation.

Ncube called for the creation of a climate change fund to specifically cater for Africa.




Source: http://www.theafricareport.com/