Date: 20/10/2005
Source: Ministry of Finance
Title: Manuel: Barclays Gala Dinner


  Address by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, MP, to Barclays Plc Gala Dinner at Saxon Hotel, Johannesburg

Master of ceremonies
Distinguished Board Members and Executives
Dear friends

Thank you for the opportunity to share this evening of great celebration with you. The right to celebrate has been well earned. We are celebrating the fact that through the ABSA transaction, Barclays has become the largest bank on the African continent. Moreover, we are celebrating the fact that this new and enlarged Barclays Bank and this new and invigorated ABSA have greatly enhanced their own opportunities for growth and development.

There can be few economic opportunities as exciting as Africa anywhere in the world. Sure, the base is low and quite a few bureaucratic hiccups remain – but these only render the challenge and therefore the rewards, much greater. Increasingly, we must see Africa as a single continent, a single market comprising some 800 million people. Fifteen years ago, too many analysts considered China a rural, underdeveloped backwater and a decade ago, the views on India were not dissimilar.

Today, you couldn’t find any person who would admit to having held such heretic views then – it’s as with apartheid in South Africa – today the vision is in fact, one Chindia: a continent with one third of the world’s population and 80 percent of the world’s opportunities. Our challenge is to think similarly about Africa – one continent, one market and one huge set of opportunities. On the occasion of the formation of the African Union in July 2002, President Mbeki said, “by forming the Union, the peoples of our continent have made the unequivocal statement that Africa must unite! We as Africans have a common and a shared destiny!

Together, we must redefine this destiny for a better life for all the people of this continent!” He proceeded to explain how we must build all manner of institutions, including the private sector, to maximise the impact and change our continent for the better. This is also the raison d’