Euro-African MPs ponder growth: members of Parliament from Europe and the Great Lakes region met in Tanzania recently to work out recommendations for sustainable private sector development. John Kamau reports.

Over 50 MPs from East Africa and the Great Lakes' region met with European MPs and private sector representatives in Arusha, Tanzania, at a conference organised by AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa), to discuss closer collaboration between the public and private sectors to lift Africa out of poverty and encourage sustainable private sector development--particularly in the Lake Victoria Basin.

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In a filmed message to the conference, Nobel Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai stressed the importance of the environment in investment decisions. AWEPA has done much valuable work to strengthen parliamentary democracy in Africa. With its roots in the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa, it has some 1,500 current and former parliamentarians as members from across the EU and beyond, its mission is to keep Africa high on the political agenda in Europe.

As Victor Mathale, of the Nepad Secretariat observed: "With regional integration, economies of scale are now coming into play." All the more reason for Africa's legislators to involve themselves in a dialogue with the private sector to promote greater levels of investment in a larger marketplace such as the East African Community.

No one at the Arusha meeting doubted the importance of the private sector, but how to engage with it was another matter. Under the guidance of the conference chairman, Irish MP and AWEPA vice-president Brendan Howlin, the conference split into three groups--the first to develop guidelines for parliamentary action on creating a conducive environment for business, entrepreneurship, investment and trade; the second to draft a code of conduct for private sector and parliamentary engagement in sustainable development and poverty reduction and the third to put forward recommendations on the role of parliamentarians in improving access to finance.

The third group had been inspired by the work of Ingrid Munro and the Jamii Bora Trust--the fastest growing micro-finance organisation in Kenya, whose 150,000 members are drawn mainly from the slums of Nairobi's Mathare and Kibera.

Tanzania's minister of planning, economy and empowerment, Dr Juma Ngasongwa, had already pointed to one problem in the opening plenary--that the private sector was often not aware of the impact of new legislation on the business community.

This was taken up by the chairman of the first group, David Mwiraria, Kenya's former minister for finance, who said that: "The business community must be made aware of the role and importance of parliamentary committees. Consultations should take place when any relevant bills relating to the business community are to be tabled."

Ken Kwaku, the former director for Africa of the World Bank and now a consultant with the Investment Climate Facility (ICF), described attracting foreign investors "as like a beauty pageant. We live in a highly competitive world and foreign investors will go where the advantages are greatest."

Currently, only 6 to 7% of FDI goes to sub-Saharan Africa. This seriously impacts on economic growth--and a real growth rate of 7%, from current levels of around 3%, will be needed if African economies are to double in a decade.

The MPs were told what factors were holding African economies back--excessive regulation and corruption; poor customs administration and anti-competitive practices featured on a list which included price fixing, bid rigging and abuse of dominant market positions and tied sales. All these prevented firms from entering new markets and expanding, while pushing up costs. They also denied to ordinary people, including the poor, the wider benefits that competition could bring.

The MPs could, however, draw comfort from the IFC's Doing Business Report which found that Africa was making strides in cutting red tape and improving business regulation. "Two thirds of African countries implemented at least one pro-business reform over the past year, with Tanzania and Ghana among the top 10 reforming nations", the study stated.