Nordic countries seek deeper cooperation with Africa
Nordic countries are at the forefront of development cooperation with African countries and the two groups are seeking ever better ways of strengthening and deepening their partnership. They have, for instance, established an informal forum of annual gatherings of foreign ministers between the five Nordic countries and ten African countries.
The theme for this year’s gathering was Conflict Prevention in Africa and Partnership, where a great deal of the discussions were centred on how to deal with conflicts and post-conflict situations in Africa. The informal gathering was initiated four years ago by the late Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh who was assasinated two years ago, and was aimed at bringing African leaders and their Nordic counterparts together in an informal forum to frankly discuss issues.
Focus on post-conflict reconstruction
The ten African foreign ministers attending the meeting were from Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, Lesotho, South Africa, Benin, Senegal, Botswana and Nigeria. The Nordic countries’ foreign ministers came from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
“We didn’t come to beg”, said Zuma, in a separate interview after the meeting. “We came for a dialogue based on frank and open discussions”, she emphasized. And out of that dialogue the Nordic countries can have a broad understanding of what Africa is about.
Zuma rebutted the entrenched notion that Africa was mired in conflicts, saying on the contrary that conflicts in the continent have declined during the last decade. However, the problem, according to her, was how to sustain peace and focus on post-conflict reconstruction and development.
Erkki Tuomioja, the Finnish Foreign Minister, said the Nordic countries have acquired a great deal of experience in peace and security, and that the Nordic countries have pledged to provide assistance to African countries in the area. When the meeting was first initiated by Anna Lindh four years ago, there was no plan to continue, but it has continued because the experience was good. “And it will continue as long as people think it is useful” Tuomioja said.
According to Zuma, the ministers disagreed very little on major issues but rather found a lot of shared values, a view also confirmed by Tuomioja. Tuomioja described the informal gathering as “useful and helpful in preparing the Nordic and African countries to prepare for international meetings”. “It helps us to know how the others view issues”, he said.
Nordic countries among the biggest donors
In a separate interview during the meeting, Tuomioja hinted that the Nordic countries fully back the plan put out by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer to reduce poverty in the poor countries. Under his “Marshall Plan for Africa”, Britain has unveiled a three-pronged plan for greater debt relief, more generous aid and better trade access to developing countries.
The Chancellor will seek approval for his plan at the next summit of the G8, the group of most industrialized countries, when they meet in Britain next year. “All the Nordic countries have supported Gordon Brown’s plan. We are certainly not the party to say the opposite thing”, he said.
The Nordic countries are the biggest donors in terms of their percentage of aid to gross domestic product (GDP). Among industrial nations, only Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have spent more than the long-established world target of 0.7 percent of GDP on aid as recommended by the United Nations. Denmark's ODA to GDP ratio is 0.99 percent, while Norway’s is 0.88 percent and Sweden’s is 0.74 percent.
Finland, the only Nordic country lagging behind with 0.34 per cent of GDP, has promised to reach the target before 2015, according to the Ministry of Development Cooperation and International Trade.
The next meeting will take place in the West African country of Benin next year.
The article was written by Linus Atarah and published in global.finland.fi(Linkki toiselle web-sivustolle.) (avautuu uuteen ikkunaan)