KL to help Africa launch economic reforms
By Farrah Naz Karim and Sean Augustin, NST
PUTRAJAYA: Kuala Lumpur is set to assist African nations in undertaking economic reforms.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Malaysia believed that the continent, which has a population of about one billion, had shown a lot of promise.
African leaders, he said, were also ready to chart new courses in pursuing development.
“They have gone through some difficult times in the past but their leaders are now much more enlightened and determined to use their resources and strengths to pursue a higher degree of development.
“Therefore, it is important for us to work closely with African countries for our mutual benefit.
“The LID (Langkawi International Dialogue) will certainly help us cement closer ties with Africa,” he said on the last day of the ninth LID, held here for the first time.
“This platform has allowed Malaysia and Malaysian companies to see how we could participate in the development of Africa through smart partnerships.”
Earlier, in his closing remarks, Najib said Malaysia was willing to send Datuk Seri Idris Jala, chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), to help African countries with their efforts to kick-start their economic transformation.
“We can even send Datuk Idris to your country for a while but don’t keep him for too long as we need him here. He is not transferable and there is no transfer fee for him,” he added in jest.
The idea of sending Idris over was much welcomed by several leaders, including Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who said as much as they would need his assistance, Dar-Es-Salam wouldn’t “kidnap” him.
Describing transformation as a “journey”, Najib said the key to transforming Africa from a food deficit continent to a food surplus continent was increasing production from one tonne per hectare to six tonnes per hectare.
“Changing from agro to agro-business is transformation. Evolving from poor governance to good governance is also transformation.”
Najib said the Malaysia-Africa Business Forum, which includes small and medium-sized enterprises, would become a permanent feature of the Smart Partnership Dialogue.
As part of new initiatives and measures to further enhance the dialogue and the smart partnership concept, Najib said the forum would tackle business franchise opportunities between Malaysia, Africa and the Caribbean.
Najib also said steps would be taken to promote technology-driven smart partnerships to address socio-economic disparity and increase productivity and income.
Besides this, LID leaders, in an “Outcome Document”, agreed there would be initiatives to enhance and facilitate specialisation and internalisation of research and development within governments to nurture knowledge and innovation-based economies.
They also agreed that there was a need for smart partnerships to progress towards ensuring good governance and effective administration.
This, they acknowledged, was crucial in preserving social cohesion and achieve socio-economic growth and political stability.
Najib also said leaders agreed for the dialogue to be held biennially so as to allow more time for participating countries to implement initiatives and plan for future prospects.
