Source: National Treasury
Title: Manuel: Action for Africa in 2005
Action for Africa in 2005, by Trevor Manuel, MP, Minister of Finance, Republic of South Africa
3 February 2005
I would like to start by thanking you for inviting me to speak here today. It is a privilege and a pleasure to join such an interesting group of policy-makers and NGOs in this discussion on Action for Africa 2005 in the capital of Europe.
We have in the first few weeks of 2005 seen a renewed global political interest in the fight against global poverty. Not since the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development almost three years ago and the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development that same year have we seen the sense of urgency and collective thinking on issues of global poverty as we are now experiencing.
What we have also seen is that when politicians want to act, they can. Rich countries can and do find the money. In just one day in November last year, the Paris Club agreed to cancel more debt to Iraq without any conditionalities, no track record, no democratically elected government, than Africa has had in 6 years.
So politicians do act when the perceived need to do so is strong. As Jeffrey Sachs reminded us on 17 January, the practical solutions to Africa,
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