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Jeff
rey Sachs, who directs the Earth Institute at Columbia
University in New York City and is a special adviser to United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, comments on development aid
and China's help in eradicating poverty in Africa.
Sachs spoke at a China-Africa seminar, organised by the United
National Development Programme in Beijing yesterday.
On provision of aid and politics: “I believe that aid has
become much too politicized and not appropriately focused on
development. For aid to be effective on development, it should be
focused on development, it should be carried out consistently and
not given on and off according to politics.
“I don't think the use of aid for sanctions, for trying to
force countries to do one thing or another, has much of a useful
track record.
“When you turn aid on and off, you end up destroying the
development component, because development requires consistency and
investment over a long period of time. You very rarely achieve the
political ends that the donor is supposedly aiming to
achieve.
“I do believe the best way to end many of the conflicts in
Africa is to address the underlying conditions of poverty.
“Take off the political lenses and put on the lenses of
fighting poverty, fighting diseases, fighting hunger, doing it
consistently and then we will achieve much better outcomes in terms
of ending conflicts than we are doing right now.”
On China's role: “China's role in Africa is extraordinarily
positive and extraordinary important.
“China has discovered the world's best and most important
anti-malaria medicine of our time, derived from the traditional
herbal Chinese remedy. That is the leading malaria medicine in the
world today.
“It symbolises how China's science and technology can play
maybe the main role as partner with Africa today, to help Africa
out of this trap of extreme poverty.”
“Africa is a hungry continent right now. And the hunger
crisis is an extremely urgent and pressing matter for virtually all
of Africa. It's also a solvable crisis and another example where
China has many experiences and technologies to overcome food
crisis. I'm working in many parts of Africa where Chinese
technologies can make all the difference.”
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