EU, African Ministers Clinch Pact On Migration Talks

EU, African Ministers Clinch Pact On Migration Talks.   “European and African ministers meeting in LibyaThursday agreed a pact on illegal immigration that would match development goals to security measures. … 

             A joint statement from the more than 50 ministers from the European Union and the African Union who participated in the gathering in Tripoli said greater steps needed to be made to encourage development, and spoke of a ‘genuine partnership’ between origin and destination countries in the migration chain. The goals were to tackle poverty, unemployment and disease with an eye to durable development, it said. The statement made no mention of security efforts used to stem migration flows to richer countries, and just underlined the two blocs' determination to find concrete solutions to illegal immigration while respecting human rights. …” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

             “… The African countries - led mainly by Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and South Africa - refused to express a clear commitment to cooperate in the repatriation of illegal migrants if the EU did not demonstrate its willingness to create an immigration fund. Despite difficult negotiations, the parties finally agreed to include the ‘possibility of creating’ a fund - using monies contributed by the European countries and pegged to their gross domestic products - specifically set up to deal with immigration issues. …” [EFE News Service/Factiva]

             “… African ministers said that such a fund would finance development projects to prevent young Africans seeking a better future in Europe. But European Commissioner for Development Louis Michel said the Europeans were not yet ready to contribute to such a fund. He proposed a EUR 40 million ($52 million) fund to manage African migration to Europe. He said the fund could be used to lower the cost for Africans sending money earned in Europe back home and set up a network of migration bureaus to match demand for jobs with supply of workers. …” [BBC News Online]

             “… The International Organization for Migration's (IOM) representative in Libya welcomed the idea of a joint EU-Africa migration fund. ‘It's the major breakthrough (of the conference),’ Laurence Hart said. Otherwise, ‘there's nothing new under the sun. We all agree on the analysis, now we have to take action,’ he said. …” [Reuters/Factiva]

             “… After several hours of contentious debate regarding the wording of the final text, the 11-page document retained the provision initially proposed by Africa regarding the readmission of illegal migrants to their home nations, but it incorporated mention in the preamble of the importance of previously-struck accords such as the 2000 Cotonu agreement. That pact recognized that the African countries should cooperate in the repatriation and readmission of their citizens who emigrate illegally to Europe, most of them to find better economic opportunities. The Tripoliconference's final declaration also recognized ‘the importance of the UN conventions and other international instruments like the UN convention on the rights of emigrant workers and their families.’ … 

             The EU [also] expressed its commitment to increase the development aid it provides to 0.56 percent of its total gross domestic product by 2010 and to 0.7 percent of GDP by 2015, and to allocate at least 50 percent of the increase to Africa. …” [EFE News Service/Factiva]

EU To Cut Number Of Permits For Second Stage Of Carbon Trading.

EU To Cut Number Of Permits For Second Stage Of Carbon Trading.   “The European Commission on Wednesday will require some EU member states cut the number of carbon permits they give local companies in preparation for the second phase of the EU's carbon trading scheme that runs from 2008 to 2012, The Financial Times said on Friday. 

             Though most member states have proposed generous allocations for their companies, so as to lighten the obligations for local industry in cutting carbon emissions, the EU will clamp down on countries that over-allocate permits. … Stavros Dimas, the EU's Environment Commissioner said that governments would not be allowed to award more permits for the second phase than the first, which has been running since January 2005. …” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

             The Financial Times notes that “… [t]he scheme is increasingly the focus of international interest as other developed countries take climate change more seriously. However, Brussels must rescue the credibility of the system, which suffered a serious blow this spring when it emerged that member states had given their industries many more permits to emit carbon than they needed for the first phase, which ends on December 31 next year. This ran counter to the purpose of the scheme - to force companies to reduce emissions by ensuring they have fewer permits than they need, in effect, putting a price on pollutions. …

             Some assessments had suggested the plans submitted by member states were about 15 percent above the limits required to meet the EU's commitments under the Kyoto protocol, which required a 6 percent cut in emissions compared with the first phase. … The biggest losers are expected to include Germany, which is heading for a showdown with Brussels over a loophole in its carbon trading scheme, which generated windfall profits for its big power producers. …” [The Financial Times (UK)]

             “Germany's quota for carbon dioxide emissions may be set at 465 million tons per year for 2008-2012, 17 million tons below the previously suggested 482 million tons, several sources familiar with the EU's plans said on Thursday. … The German government is expected to comment on the proposals and the EU is due to rule on them by the end of this month. The German government had been planning to base the national CO2 allocations on average emissions in the years 2000 through 2005. …” [Reuters/Factiva] 

World Bank Lifted Suspension Of The $60 Million TB And HIV/AIDS Control Project.

World Bank Lifted Suspension Of The $60 Million TB And HIV/AIDS Control Project.   “The World Bank today informed the Government of Ukraine that it has decided to lift the suspension on the $60 million tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS Control Project and to resume project implementation, according to a World Bank press-release, forwarded to UNIAN.

             The project was suspended on April 12, 2006 due to the slow and ineffective implementation. The World Bank recommended that the Government take action in three areas: adoption of the new national TB control strategy; acceptance of alternative procurement procedures in association with UN agencies to accelerate project implementation; and arrangements to improve project management by integrating the functions of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) into the Ministry of Health’s structure. These have now been done.

             ‘We welcome the actions taken by the government of Ukraine in these areas. We hope that the project can now be successfully implemented,’ said Paul Bermingham, World Bank Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. ‘We intend to work intensively with the government as well as other international donors and organizations to ensure successful implementation of Ukraine’s national tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS programs.’” [Unian (Ukraine)/Factiva]

Africa Must Join Fight Against Bird Flu - WHO

Africa Must Join Fight Against Bird Flu - WHO.   “Africa must find resources to back international efforts to stop the spread of bird flu and help prevent a human pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, as Ivory Coastdeclared a new outbreak. 

             African nations cannot afford to ignore the threat of H5N1 bird flu, which can kill people, and should make early investments to detect and wipe out the virus in poultry and wild birds, Alan Hay, Director of the WHO Influenza Centre told Reuters. ‘The danger is that you might have something where it could be smoldering and then all of a sudden it shows up in the human population,’ Hay said on the sidelines of the Roche Diagnostics Forum, which focuses in healthcare in Africa, in Johannesburg. ‘We know it's a difficult task and asking a lot, but surveillance (is more cost effective) than dealing with a pandemic.’ … 

             The WHO has agreed to help establish regional centers focused on avian flu in five nations in sub-Saharan Africa -- Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, Madagascar and Kenya -- where ‘surveillance is less than adequate,’ said Hays. He stressed the onus was on national governments to muster enough resources to keep the centers going in the world's poorest continent where health facilities are often basic and diseases can go undiagnosed. …” [Reuters/Factiva]

             In related news, “the fourth international conference on bird flu, with 600 participants, will take place from December 6-8 in Bamako, a Malian cabinet official said Thursday. The conference will ‘take stock of the past year's global efforts against avian flu and evaluate the risks of human pandemic flu,’ Minister of Livestock and Fishing Ibrahima Toure told a new conference. The participants of this international meeting, jointly organized by Mali's government, the European Union and the African Union, will include ministers of health and those in charge of the fight against bird flu, veterinary experts and doctors from over 100 countries. Alongside this meeting, several dozens of national and international non-governmental organizations, as well as civil society representatives, will meet in the Malian capital to discuss issues tied to deadly virus. …” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

Editorial: To Fight Corruption, One African Offers Presidents Cash

Editorial: To Fight Corruption, One African Offers Presidents Cash. “Every year at this time, a private organization called Transparency International ranks countries on how corrupt they are perceived to be. The current index is notable for what has not changed: the sad persistence of Sub-Saharan Africa at the bottom of the heap. What is new this year is that Transparency International has new company in fighting corruption.

             A Sudanese cellphone billionaire named Mo Ibrahim announced recently that he will give an annual prize worth more than $5 million to an African head of state who was freely elected, turned over power to a freely elected successor and governed well while in office. Skeptics might ask how the cause of fighting corruption will be served by awarding what will be the world's largest individual prize to a powerful leader for doing his job. The answer can be found in the dreary immutability of Transparency's list. Any first-year business school student can design successful strategies for fighting corruption. It persists because political leaders in many countries, especially in Africa, have little incentive to do any of these things. 

             Corruption is tamed when government agencies are set up to make corrupt behavior difficult. Two examples of how far the world is from this goal: Many government agencies in poor countries cut costs by paying workers a pittance or even nothing, expecting them to live off bribes. Before Mexico reformed its customs posts as part of its bid for the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico City's airport effectively kept no registry of what came in on 100 planes a day. There are lots of examples of how to do this right. Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, now all among the very cleanest countries, used to be corruption cesspools. But success depends on leadership. …

             Corruption benefits leaders personally. It rewards supporters and greases the political machinery. And anyone who really tries to fight corruption makes a host of inconvenient and perhaps dangerous enemies. That's where Ibrahim's prize comes in. In most countries in Africa, leaders today have unlimited opportunities to plunder and no checks on their power. But once they leave office, they lose everything. With rare exceptions, they receive no further salary or perks. This is a perfect system for encouraging presidents to steal as much as they can and cling to office. The Ibrahim prize seeks to help change this equation. … The prize increases the appeal of leaving office, and helps presidents feel less need to pilfer their way into a comfortable retirement. It will also give them an incentive to improve the lot of their people.

             Its limitation is that it mainly affects the behavior of the chief executive. Addressing big-fish corruption is not a full solution. Even a puritanical leader can run a very corrupt government, especially if he suffers from the misimpression that his own probity is enough. What counts is how the system is structured. To change that, Africa, like elsewhere, needs more than an Ibrahim prize. It needs a permanent source of political pressure from citizens and business groups -- not just general disgust, but advocacy for specific reforms. Corruption always carries its own powerful lobby. Honest government needs one as well.” [The New York Times/Factiva]

World Bank Censures Africa Health Sector

World Bank Censures Africa Health Sector.   “Health sector reform in Africa is unlikely to succeed without strong support from finance, planning and local government ministries, a senior World Bank official has told an international conference on community health in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
            Ok Pannenborg, Senior Advisor for Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank, said it was for that reason that the Bank recently issued a strategy for health in the Africa Region, emphasizing that it should limit itself only to those areas it would have comparative advantage, ……[H] e explained that the comparative advantage would first and foremost be in the area of microeconomics and health. …
            The conference, jointly organized by UNAIDS, UNICEF, the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa, aims to contribute to increased community involvement and participation in health in order to scale up access to universal care. While the health sector itself has a major role to play in the improvement of the health of the population, Pannenborg said other sectors such as agriculture, energy, transport and education should also be involved in health sector determinants.  …” [The Guardian (Tanzania)]

Briefly Noted… Africa must overcome its lack of infrastructure, expand farming and brighten its investment climate in order to tackle poverty and realize its growth potential, Cameroon's Prime Minister, Ephraim Inoni said at a meeting of African economy and finance ministers on Thursday. He also stressed the need to improve Africa's business and regulatory climate to draw more foreign investment, adding Africa must seize the opportunity to unleash its huge economic potential, echoing recent calls made by senior International Monetary Fund officials.  [Reuters/Factiva]

             Ecuadorian presidential candidate Rafael Correa said on Thursday that if elected he plans to minimize financial ties with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and would seek an extension of maturities in order to repay them. [Reuters/Factiva] 

             Talks between Brazilian state-controlled energy company Petrobras and its Bolivian counterpart YPFB over the price Brazil pays for Bolivian natural gas concluded on Thursday without a deal. In a statement, YPFB said the companies will meet again between Dec. 4 and Dec. 8. Officials from YPFB and Petrobras have been negotiating since early June, when the Bolivian government announced it wanted to increase the price energy-hungry Brazilpays for Bolivian natural gas by as much as 75 percent. [Reuters/Factiva] 

             The World Bank will give $26.9 million to Central Asian countries to implement Central Asian AIDS project till 2010. The initiative was presented in Washington, DC at the HIV/AIDS meeting for Caribbean countries, Vice Prime Minister of Kyrgyz Republic Tynychbek Tabyldiev said during a press conference. The regional meeting of Central Asian countries will be held in December of 2006 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in order to discuss HIV/AIDS project implementation-related issues. [Kyrgyz National News Agency “Kabar” (Kyrgyzstan)/Factiva]

             EU leaders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in an effort to improve cooperation and overcome strains over energy and trade. The EU executive commission had hoped to begin talks for a new partnership with Russia to replace a 1997 deal. But a veto by Poland -- upset over a Russian import ban on Polish meat and plant products -- means those negotiations must wait. [The Associated Press/Factiva]

             The German government, which has put the issue of trade in natural resources at the top of the agenda of its G8 presidency, wants to convince transition countries to join an international monitoring system. Germany wants to further develop a framework that was pioneered a few years ago by the UK and Norway – the EITI. The German development ministry is confident that China and other BRIC countries will join the initiative. Still, the Germans want more: The EITI standards are to be extended to other sectors, including lumber, fishing, and mining. [Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)/Factiva]

             The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy predicted Friday that South Korea could create up to 300,000 new jobs in the short term if it signs a free trade agreement with the EU. A deal would also likely allow South Korea to expand its gross domestic product by 2.02 percent in the short term, Senior Researcher, Kim Heung-Jong said in the report at a public hearing to discuss a possible trade deal with the 25-nation bloc. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

            Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on Thursday ordered his ministers to work out a joint position on Russia's energy strategy within a week, a day after the cabinet failed to agree on whether to raise domestic gas prices. He said the issue would be on the government's agenda next Thursday. [Reuters/Factiva] 

             International Monetary FundManaging Director Rodrigo Rato said Thursday the world's financial sector needs to better appraise changes in the global economy by incorporating wider risk assessments. Low volatility in foreign-exchange markets, rapid economic growth worldwide, low and stable inflation and benign conditions in financial markets have resulted in limited risk assessments at a time of dramatic transformation in global financial markets, Rato said at a ceremony in which Madrid's College of Economists. [Dow Jones/Factiva] 

             The European Central Bank should keep raising interest rates as the economy of the dozen Euro nations sustains its expansion, the International Monetary Fund said in a confidential report to European finance ministers. In the report, IMF officials predict that inflation in the Euro area will remain above the 2 percent ECB ceiling next year and economic growth will only moderate from the 2.5 percent pace of this year, the best in six years. Actual growth in 2007 is more likely to exceed the projection than fall short, the report said. [The International Herald Tribune and Bloomberg/Factiva]