The development round must lead to wide-ranging mechanisms to ensure increased resource flows to poor countries. It should also lead to effective technical assistance to enable the fuller and fairer integration of the poorest countries into the global trading system. To these ends, African countries should have a common position and act together in the next trade round. We also endorse the long-term goal of reducing and ultimately ending dependence upon aid. This requires far more reliance upon domestic and foreign private investment, which, in turn, underlines the need for governance reforms and macro-economic management in many of our countries.
Globalization is both a reality and a long-term opportunity for Africa.
But to take advantage of this opportunity requires an increase in our competitiveness fostered by an expansion of our internal markets. We are committed to accelerating the regionalization of our continent. To this end we must take added national measures to promote inter-regional linkages in transportation and communications as well as to harmonize our trade regimes. We support the recommendation of our African leaders to work towards a single initiative. We concur that such an initiative should provide an appropriate framework for Africa's development.