Aiding Africa is good but 'Don't forget Asia'<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
With a variety of musical charity concerts such as Live Aid in
\nthe 1980s and the recent Live8, many heads of state have turned
\nto Africa to assist the development problems there, which is a
\ngreat thing to do.<\/p>\n
However, half a world away from Africa, the region that
\ncomprises two-thirds of the world's poor, people are crying out
\n\"Don't forget Asia.\"<\/p>\n
A working group on the second day of the ministerial meeting
\non Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Asia and the Pacific
\nreiterated the cry, demanding more innovative aid mechanisms and
\ndebt relief.<\/p>\n
Indian State Minister for External Affairs E. Ahamed said that
\nwhile the primary responsibility for the development lies with
\nindividual countries, many developing countries lack institutions
\nand capacities.<\/p>\n
Therefore, development aid should be integrated properly with
\ndevelopment strategies of recipient countries.<\/p>\n
\"Approaches to international development financing should not
\nonly be about supply of resources, but should also explicitly
\ntake into account the nature of investment demand.<\/p>\n
\"Development of infrastructure and capacity-building are
\nimportant not only for sustained growth, but also for providing
\ninstitutional capacity to absorb inflow of resources,\" Ahamed
\naddressed the discussion, which was focused on promoting a
\nregional compact.<\/p>\n
He also pointed to the harmonization of aid, which he said was
\nstill an elusive issue as most donor countries had their own aid
\npackages with sets of conditions..<\/p>\n
Also, while the official development assistance has increased
\nto reach the MDGs, it has been concentrated in a few countries,
\nand mainly for debt relief and emergency distress assistance.<\/p>\n
In the period of 2001 to 2003, for instance, of the total aid
\nincrease of US$16.5 billion, $6 billion was for debt relief, $3
\nbillion for emergency distress relief and $4.5 billion for
\ntechnical cooperation. That left of only $3 billion for increased
\nmultilateral and bilateral aid.<\/p>\n
The pre-condition of \"clean society and good governance\" for
\ngiving aid would condemn the societies trapped in the spiral of
\npoverty and corruption to the same vicious circle.<\/p>\n
There were also emphasis on trade access, infrastructure
\ndevelopment, capacity-building and transfer to appropriate
\ntechnologies to developing countries, rather than a simplistic
\napproach focusing disproportionately on aid.<\/p>\n
Aside from aid and debt relief, the working group also called
\nfor solid intra-regional cooperation, particularly as there are
\nhuge socio-economic disparities in the region.<\/p>\n
The vice president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Geert
\nvan der Linden urged the countries in Asia and the Pacific to
\ncome up with more solid visions in order to narrow the gap
\nbetween them.<\/p>\n
\"There is no agreed vision so far, as the actions have been
\nfragmented,\" he addressed the seminar.<\/p>\n
It is not clear whether the lack of internal vision was due to
\nan absence of trust among the countries, a lack of a mechanism or
\na lack of modalities.<\/p>\n
As there is unlikely any European Union (EU) style institution
\navailable in the short-term period, van der Linden urged them to
\nseek other methods to agree.<\/p>\n
\"There's a need for future internal vision, otherwise it will
\nbe difficult for the region to step up.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aiding-africa-is-good-but-dont-forget-asia-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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