Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamel Morjane PHOTOS: AFP/getty images
Negotiations over expanding Tunisia’s integration into the European Union are raising questions about the efficacy of Brussels’ soft power mechanisms in promoting political reform in the Southern Mediterranean
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Andry Rajoelina PHOTOS: Getty
“We are on the path to reform and this is the first time that the one in power will not run in the next presidential election. This has always been a problem in Madagascar and in Africa, because those in power always want to stay”
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US secretary of state Hillary Clinton addresses a press conference of the 8th Africa Growth Opportunities Act Forum in Nairobi
Ten years after the Clinton administration adopted the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a groundbreaking piece of trade legislation, Agoa’s architects are petitioning to take it a stage further and increase US investment in Africa
More . . .- Ajai Chowdhry: Exclusive Interview “India as a country didn’t do enough branding. You know how that branding happened? It was Indians working abroad that created the Indian brand. Engineers who went out, doctors who went out, software engineers who went out, administrators who went out, researchers, scientists, teachers. These are the people who actually created brand India”
- The fight against corruption The UK’s new bribery laws should bring more clarity to corporate prosecutions, but the movement of large companies into the developing world presents huge challenges for the authorities
- Kanayo Nwanze: Exclusive Interview “One factor that emerged from the 2007-2008 food crisis was the clear linkage in the developing world between food security and political stability. It brought down two governments, one in Haiti and one in Madagascar. What happens in some small developing country affects a big one in Europe. They realised that food security is no longer what we used to think it was”
- Jørgen Ole Haslestad: Exclusive Interview “We see the huge potential that this area has. If we can participate in moving it in the direction that we would like to see it, then we can sell more products. We can’t do that if we’re just sitting, listening and selling our fertiliser. Here we have to be active. I’m not into this for the fun of it. We’re not an NGO”
- Yvo de Boer: Exclusive Interview “If you know, as I know, that 85 percent of the investments in the energy sector, which is responsible for 80 percent of emissions, are going to have to come from the private sector, it really is critical that we bring more of that private sector perspective into building a climate change regime”
- Gathering storms test US capacity With emerging security concerns in Somalia and Nigeria and events coming to a head in Sudan, the US faces major challenges in the year ahead
- Middle ground or party lines? If the UK opposition can articulate its Africa and development policies in terms of security, immigration and commercial promotion and keep its own right wing at bay, then victory in May’s elections may not change the trajectory of Britain’s approach to the continent
- Paul Kagame “A lot is changing. The voices of Africa are becoming more pronounced. There is insistence on Africa being taken seriously by Africans themselves, and Africans are trying to assert themselves and not only say the right things but also be seen to be doing the right things”
- Rhetoric or reality Attention may be focused on Iran’s nuclear programme but Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has worked hard to become an increasingly global power with a reach that extends into both Latin America and Africa
- Harder edge to soft power China’s growing commitment to UN peacekeeping could hint at Beijing’s willingness to take on a greater role in African security
- A change for the better? Spain’s second “Plan Africa” emphasises multilateralism, but its basic motivations show little departure from previous initiatives, analysts say
- Fragile states back on global agenda Commitments from a number of nations look set to push state-building into the spotlight, and policymakers would do well to learn the lessons of the recent past.
- Picking winners: the return of industrial policy Widespread government intervention to combat the financial crisis is leading to a reevaluation of how the state can promote economic development
- Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco “We spent the last 25 years saying that, look, we are a private business, we do private business things. You are the government, stay out of the way. And then this crisis happened, and all of a sudden we come across the fact that governments, after all, have a role to play”
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Interviews
Andry Rajoelina
“We are on the path to reform and this is the first time that the one in power will not run in the next presidential election...”
Anna Tibaijuka
Africa’s urbanisation must be understood and managed to prevent growing inequalities from becoming a source of conflict, according to Anna Tibaijuka,...
