on reforming the global financial architecture has often felt more like Africa against the rest of the world, but the tide is turning. Governments north and south agree that there is something fundamentally wrong with the system and it must be fixed. As the leaders of Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, we have first-hand experience of the precarious financial situation facing many African countries, especially when it comes to debt and development finance.
First, African leaders must be bold in promoting their ideas and participating when decisions are being made that affect the continent. The three of us have made it clear that we will not sign on to global regulations and agreements that are not shaped with our input. Second, Africa must look within for solutions. We must invest our borrowing in the continent’s growth, job creation and revenue generation rather than in consumption that will not pay us back in the long run; make sure development projects are high-quality, priced correctly and finished on time; and start looking to each other as major trading partners rather than overseas.
The three of us recently helped to launch the Africa Club, an alliance of African multilateral financial institutions that will serve as a powerful negotiator on behalf of the continent, co-ordinate with global financial institutions and leverage African countries’ balance-sheets to increase investment and jobs. It is critical that these institutions have the full weight ofmember states behind them and the appropriate capital to continue serving Africa’s development.