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sugar and beef, which competedwitli speak of tlie region or the sub-region and discussions tliat we have had in
European agriculture. Secondly, the -to have a holistic overview. the past. There are other areas, such
EC committed € 3 billion for aid and
as the textile and fashion industry,
investment in ACP countries. It is an You definitely need to 100k at the and others that are also completely
agreement whicli takes place at the regional and sub-regional perspec- ignored. That is where the future lies
commercial level. Tlie agreement tive and then consider solutions and in my humble opinion.
was later amended. options that may, for instaxice, imply
a stronger and more powerful Afri- Q: We must create industries
Tlie Cotonou Agreement is aimed can Union, as well as other strong- and enterprises?
to reduce and eventually eradicate er organizations. On these points
poverty, wliile contributing to sus- there's no discussion. One of the Yes, it must be transformation in a
tainable development and to the problems is the fact that the system different scale. I have not carried
gradual integration of ACP countries is fragmented by different regional out any detailed case studies, but I
into the world economy. orgaruzatxons. see and strongly believe that there
is much potential in many sectors.
Q: Do you think that there is a Q: You're saying that we should However, going back to your ini-
big difference between what make a regional study. tial question about the difference
you see in the field and the per-
between wliat is happening on
ception we have here.
In my opinion yes. It should start the ground and our perception in
from a national level, then go on to Europe, there is indeed a huge dif-
The African economies are simi- the regional perspective and then ference. We do not hear about the
lar to one another. They are based
achieve a logical regional overview. new emerging sectors-the debate
on agricultural products; part of An in-depth analysis should deter-
the production is consumed locally mine areas that would be profitable remains the same. We do see, howe-
ver, tliat there is a dynamic
trei'id on
while the rest is exported. There is for each country. the ground.
economic growth, but it's perhaps
not strong enough to support regio- Q: For a country like Senegal, Q: What do you think is the
nal trade. I think that one should the New Partnership for Afri- main problem?
not attack the rules and regulations,
ca's Development (NEPAD)
but rather to think outside the box. decided that the mango was a In my opinion, the main problem
One should imagine new structures, privileged product for export. is not about creating
wealth but ra-
an approach that would permit the What do you think about that? ther about its distribution.
country to think in new terms, with There is
a lot of wealth and there are people
more emphasis on sub-regional and The mango is an agricultural pro- who lmow how to exploit it. What is
regional cooperation. duct and not a product that you can required is to find a way to redis-
transform. In my opinion, agricul- tribute it. It's quite clear that only
Obviously, you can have a lot of ideas tural products do not have much fu- a tiny minority benefit
but the reality on the ground is more from tliis
ture. I thinkthe future lies in innova- wealth. The question that one may
nuanced, more complex, and here tion and the transformation of goods ask is: Do national politics take this
we have all the tools and the ins- using a more industrial approach. into account? I mean the creation
truments. I think the main issue is
of health and education services
perhaps the lack of willingness to see Thepotentialforagriculturalproduc- and infrastructures that benefit the
reality as it is, and to make projec- tion for a whole country seems a bit whole community.
tions of these realities. limited, while there are other areas,
suchastheserviceindustry,whichare
Despite all this, I tend to be opti-
Obviously, there are countries that neglected. There are countries in the mistic because there is economic
advance. They have made progress region that have tremendous tour- growth, and things are indeed
but they cannot move alone. We ist potential, but so far this has been moving-there are micro-initiatives
must also take into consideration completely ignored. There are areas
what is happening at the regio- that relate to the arts, for instance, on the ground. People are gifted and
dynamic
do
and often manage to
nal level. What happens in Mali, that have been neglected. I believe things without the assistance of any-
for example, has a direct effect on that there is much potential that is body. I'm pessimistic when it comes
Mauritania and other neighbouring completely unexplored. I think that to the fact that the growth does not
countries. I think it is not enough to the futurelies in thinking outside the benefit the whole population. s
talk about a country; it is better to box, outside the traditional debates
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