Jacob Zuma, South Africa's new president

Some of the world's most powerful leaders and investors met in Cape Town last month for the World Economic Forum. They discussed the impact of the global downturn on Africa and how the continent could use it as an opportunity to build a platform for growth. Writer Charlie Corbett in Cape Town

None of the 900 attendants at this year's World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town could have predicted, when they met last year, quite the extent of the carnage that would occur in global financial markets just months after the 2008 gathering. Whereas last year, the talk was of growth and development in the African continent, this year, talk was of mitigating the devastating impact of a global recession on some of the world's poorest communities.

Dignitaries from across Africa graced the forum with their presence, including heads of state, finance ministers, central bank chiefs and representatives from the World Bank and United Nations. One of the most notable aspects of this year's meeting, however, was attendance of multiple senior figures from across China and the Middle East. As if to emphasise this point, the three speakers at the opening press conference hailed from Africa, in the form of World Bank managing director and former Nigerian finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Middle East, in the form of the executive chairman of industrial conglomerate, the Dubai Group, Mr Soud Ba'alawy; and China, in the chairman of the world's biggest bank, ICBC, Mr Jiang Jianqing. It was striking that there was no representative at the press conference from Europe or the US. This, more than anything perhaps, reflects Africa's future course.

Taking stock

Two key themes dominated discussion at the conference: the impact of the global economic downturn on Africa, and how the continent could take advantage of opportunities that a crisis in developed markets had thrown up, in order to build a platform for future growth. An air of optimism always hangs over meetings of this nature and it is often hard to differentiate between pure exuberance and hard-headed reality. Most speakers, however, accepted that huge barriers remained in the way of Africa achieving its full potential. Issues of good governance and bad leadership pervaded most conversation, in any given debate.

South Africa's new president, Jacob Zuma, opened proceedings on the first day by calling for a reform of the Bretton Woods institutions to provide a voice for emerging and developing countries. He went on to talk about the impact of the downturn on Africa: "Rich governments are able to respond with stimulus packages, but for most African countries that are still highly indebted and dependent on aid for their revenues, the continuation of the current crisis will mean increased poverty, starvation and child mortality," he said. "We must cushion our people against the impact of the crisis as best we can, but we also need to respond in the spirit of planning for a recovery."

He said that the core element of the South African government's response to the crisis was to lavish R787bn ($97.3bn) on infrastructure, to implement a rural development strategy and to provide social grants to 15 million of the county's most impoverished people. South Africa's hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2010, he said, had also gone a long way in putting a shot in the arm of the country's construction industry and had created 400,000 jobs.

Outside influence

The influence of China on the future of the African continent could not be ignored. The presence of Mr Jiang at the conference, whose bank last year completed its purchase of 20% of South Africa's Standard Bank, guaranteed that much talk centred on what China's true motives were in Africa.

Mr Jiang hit back against scepticism about China's motives: he talked of building a bridge between China and Africa. He admitted that China needed more understanding of Africa, but that it had been in Africa for 500 years and at no stage had attempted colonisation. "We have a history of support to Africa," he said. The key issue for Mr Jiang was how to balance development in Africa and fight poverty. "If we can increase GDP [gross domestic product] then that will solve other problems. Developing economies is the most fundamental issue. We need to be responsible world citizens," he said.

Ultimately, however, it is action and investment that will propel Africa to the next level of development and there was a sense among participants that African leaders needed to implement more and talk less. In the words of Dubai Group's Mr Ba'alawy in the opening session: "Africa needs fewer plans and more execution."

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