Even though Africa’s mineral resources are fuelling growth and development in many industrialised and emerging economies of the world, Africa still remains poor, under-developed and dependent on external funding, according to Jean Noel Francois of the African Union’s Department of Trade and Industry. He was speaking at the opening of the second conference of African Ministers responsible for mineral resources and development held from 12-16 December 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr Francois said the 21st century’s commodity boom has alerted emerging global players to link mineral resource exploitation to infrastructure development, but Africa has yet to seize the opportunity to extract better benefits from its mineral resources to promote broad-based and integrated growth and economic development. Another presenter, Stephen Karinga, expressed frustration that Africa has not benefitted from the dramatic increase in prices for minerals since 2003 due to a number of structural weaknesses in its mineral sector. According to Karingi, in 2010, net profits for the top 40 global mining companies grew by 156% to US$110 billion, prompting countries like Australia and India to increase taxes on windfall earnings, yet Africa has been hesitant to do the same for fear of driving away mining companies.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
In its Foreign Trade White Paper, China positions its foreign trade policy as based on constructing all-round economic and trade partnerships with mutually beneficial co-operation. China' s trade with Brazil, India and South Africa has been enjoying rapid growth in recent years, which the Chinese government argues promotes the development of the member countries' respective advantageous industries and shows the broad development prospects of emerging markets. In recent years China has seen relatively fast growth in its trade with other developing countries, including bilateral trade with African countries. Currently over 150 countries and regions have signed agreements on bilateral trade or economic co-operation with China, which has established and maintains high-level economic dialogue mechanisms. Although China's foreign trade is still hampered by many uncertainties and is bound to meet new difficulties and challenges, during the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) the government intends to open itself wider to the outside world as a driver for further reform, development and innovation, and integrate itself into the world economy on a wider scale and at a higher level.
The tenth anniversary of the November 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration on TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and Public Health was celebrated at the Symposium on Global Health Diplomacy, held in November 2011 at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Switzerland. According to Pascal Lamy, head of the WTO, before the declaration was issued, intellectual property (IP) protection and the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement were often considered simply to be an obstacle to public health, but stakeholders have realised the two issues are not contradictory. Lamy added that the main responsibility for ensuring coherence on the public health/IP agenda is within national governments, including how IP is handled in bilateral or regional free trade agreements. Lamy highlighted two benefits of the Declaration. First, it allowed ministers to alter the TRIPS agreement so that developing countries could use compulsory licences to manufacture generic medicines exclusively for export to countries unable to make them themselves (the Paragraph 6 system). Second, the Declaration led the WTO to scale up technical assistance to developing countries on understanding and implementing various flexibilities (such as compulsory licensing and parallel importing) in the TRIPS Agreement.
The Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Erastus Jarnalese Onkundi Mwencha, says the structure of the economic partnership agreement between the continent and the European Union is not to Africa’s advantage, arguing instead for regional integration. He explained that regional integration will help develop larger markets, foster greater competition and improve the policy stance in many areas of the development agenda. Progress towards increased intra-African trade as a major objective of an economic integration agenda has been less than impressive, he added. The structures of African economies have been intended to produce raw materials for export. Mwencha argues that African countries need to add value to their raw materials and use the rest of the continent as a base for industrialisation and trade.
According to the World Health Organisation, the right mix of climate change mitigation policies for the housing sector could lead to very large health co-benefits, including reductions in noncommunicable and infectious diseases. Non-communicable diseases can be reduced through mitigation measures that: reduce exposure to extreme heat and cold; reduce mould and dampness; improve natural ventilation and provide for safer, more energy-efficient home heating and appliances. There is also evidence that housing improvements increase well-being and mental health. Infectious diseasescan be prevented through low-energy and climate-friendly designs to: improve natural ventilation; limit vector and pest infestations (e.g. sealing of cracks, window screening); and improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation as part of planning and siting. Good ventilation is critical to ensure health gains from energy-efficient and weather-tight housing, as insufficient natural ventilation is associated with higher risk of airborne disease transmission, dampness and accumulation of indoor pollutants that are risk factors for allergies and asthma. Energy-efficient biomass and gas cookstoves can help avert a large proportion of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in poor countries by reducing exposure to indoor cookstove smoke.
Low-carbon transport measures can provide ‘win-win’ options for developed and developing countries that benefit health as well as reducing climate change, suggests this new report by the World Health Organisation, launched at COP17 in Durban, South Africa on 6 December 2011. Among the measures are better systems for rapid transit, walking and cycling, as well as urban land use that emphasises greater ‘access’ to key destinations by these modes. These strategies all can help to: promote physical activity, which can prevent heart disease some cancers and type 2 diabetes; reduce health-harming air pollution exposures; and reduce injury risks when cycle/pedestrian networks are made safer.
According to this study, Malawi’s anti-money laundering (AML) framework has revealed that the main sources of ill-gotten money in the country are corruption and tax evasion, including trade mispricing. Other prevalent forms of crime for profit in Malawi are smuggling of (counterfeit) goods, the production and export of cannabis, organised motor vehicle theft, violent housebreakings, human trafficking and labour exploitation. According to World Bank estimates, income derived from corruption amounts to about 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Malawi, while tax evasion constitutes about 8-12% percent of GDP. However, the authors of the study note that these estimates should be treated with caution, as they are not conclusive. The Malawi Revenue Authority is reported to have recovered millions of Kwacha by using the AML tools available to it. Namibia is also reported to be implementing its AML system since May 2009. Further in that country tax evasion stands at an estimated 9% of GDP.
The international trade union movement has warned of growing social unrest and increased social hardship if trade liberalisation continues against the backdrop of harsh unemployment and austerity measures. Sharan Burrow, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has done nothing to prevent trade imbalances growing to unsustainable levels accompanied by dangerously widening income inequality. Burrow expects that the deal emerging from the eighth meeting of Trade Ministers in Geneva 15 -17 December 2011 will not help trade to drive economic recovery, employment creation and genuine economic development, and ultimately puts the multilateral trading system at risk. The ITUC is calling for an evaluation of the Doha round outcomes to assess its impact on providing decent work, improved living standards and diversifying the economies of developing countries. It argues that, without measuring the impact on developing countries and workers, it makes little sense to move forward with trade liberalisation.
On 15 November 2011, least-developed countries (LDCs) tabled a proposal on extending the current deadline of 1 July 2013 for them to implement the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) TRIPS Agreement, which affects patents on medicines and access to medicines in their countries. The proposal has been submitted for the upcoming eighth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC8) taking place in Geneva from 15-17 December 2011. The proposal recognises that LDCs continue to face serious economic, financial and administrative constraints in their efforts to bring their domestic legal system into conformity with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. It also takes note of the challenges faced by most LDCs to submit their priority needs for technical and financial co-operation under the Decision of 29 November 2005 and the lack of resource mobilisation to support their individual priority needs. The proposal recalls the commitment by Developed Country Members to provide enhanced technical and financial co-operation in favour of LDCs to assist them in implementing the TRIPS Agreement and develop a viable technological base in line with their special needs and requirements.
The author of this book argues that natural resources in Africa are a blessing, but the way they are plundered and used has turned them into a curse. Rich in natural resources, Africa has for a long time been a net supplier of energy and raw materials to the North. The current global climate crisis is rooted mainly in the wealthy economies' abuse of fossil fuels, indigenous forests and global commercial agriculture. But, without agreement about how to tackle this reality, the question often simply becomes ‘What can be done about Africa?’ rather than ‘What can we do together?’ Bassey examines the oil industry in Africa, probes the roots of global warming, warns of its insidious impacts and explores false 'solutions'. He demonstrates that the issues around natural resource exploitation, corporate profiteering and climate change must be considered together if Africa and the rest of the world are to save ourselves.