Countries under the G20 Compact With Africa (CWA) initiative agreed here on Wednesday to use a reformed public sector as an incentive for attracting both domestic and Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).
In a Consensus statement issued here late Wednesday after the first G-20 Compact With Africa (CWA) Finance Ministers meeting, the five out of seven member countries present, agreed on a public administration that prioritizes responding to investors, both domestic and foreign, and dealing expeditiously with their concerns.
As part of these commitments the Compact countries including Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Rwanda and Senegal agreed to a better coordination within government on improving the business atmosphere, while improving the legal frameworks to give clarity and expeditious resolution of issues involving investors.
Among others, the countries also underscored the need to strengthen capacity for planning and managing public investments, including Public-Private-Partnerships(PPPs) urging the countries to consider creating capacity to prepare feasibility studies on prospective projects that could be used to attract private investment partners.
“The Members also agreed to adopt a regional approach and push for neighbors to reform and attract FDI to the region not just country,” Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s finance minister who read the consensus said.
While Ethiopia and Tunisia, which are also members of the CWA were absent, other countries including Burkina Faso, Benin, The Gambia and Guinea which aspire to join were present at the one-day meeting.
“There is a shared expectation that G20 countries will promote specific and meaningful investment in Africa , particularly to address the infrastructure gap,” the consensus read.
It added: “Significant G20 investment and trade promotion, financing, and risk mitigation are needed for the private sector to commit to new investments in Africa.”
The CWA countries argued further that the level of preparedness in their countries made it imperative for G20 countries to be more specific and detailed on how they would assist in attracting the required significant additional private investment to CWA countries who are pursuing reforms and de-risking their countries.
There was a strong agreement among participants that a partnership approach among the member countries will benefit the CWA implementation, as African governments and International Finance Institutions (IFIs) and G20 work collaboratively to meet the goals while the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) and other African institutions support the implementation.
Kingsley Amoako, President of ACET said in an interview that since the initiative is fairly new, there was the need for clarity where “we want to go” in order to have a smooth implementation.
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