African leaders yesterday lashed out at rich nations for failing to tackle trade inequalities even as they make lofty pledges to boost aid.
The leaders, in Japan for a major development conference, urged industrialized nations to make it easier for them to export food, coffee and other products at fair prices.
“Pursuit of unfair trade practices by the big powers as well as difficult access for African products to markets of developed countries continue to penalize our states and significantly destroy their performance in the creation of riches,” Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore said.
PHOTO: EPA
Forty heads of states from Africa are participating in the three-day conference on economic growth, stability and climate change.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged yesterday to double aid to Africa by 2012 and to help the continent double rice production to ease food shortages.
In recent weeks and months, soaring prices for essential foodstuffs such as rice, wheat and corn in some of the world’s poorest nations have sparked demonstrations across Africa.
But some African leaders said their countries were more concerned about unfair trade deals than a lack of things to eat.
“There is a big problem of food in the world now and a problem of energy. In Uganda, there is a problem of a different kind. We have too much food and no market to export it to,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said. “Why? Because of bad policies in Europe, America and even in Japan.”
He said his country was facing “a real struggle” to get a fair deal for its natural resources, including agricultural and mineral products.
For example, a kilogram of unprocessed Ugandan coffee would be sold for US$1 at home but for US$14 in Britain after it has been refined, he said.
“I see some people here who are called donors,” Museveni told the conference audience. “Now, I really have a problem with that definition. Because I don’t know who’s helping who.”
Fair trade campaigners say that while poor countries have been forced to open up their markets, rich nations have kept unfair practices such as farm subsidies, while multinational companies fail to give farmers a fair deal.
Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba urged Japan to boost direct investment in Africa and open up Japanese markets to African products.
“Japan can weave with Africa a strategic partnership which is mutually beneficial,” he said.
The gathering in Yokohama, near Tokyo, is seen as an effort by Japan to expand its influence in Africa, where China and India are also seeking closer ties and supplies of natural resources to fuel their rapid economic growth.
Japan also announced a US$2.5 billion initiative to help its companies do business in Africa, paving the way for private sector investment, which some African leaders said was sorely lacking.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of