SPEECH BY H.E. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 8th SULLIVAN SUMMIT, ARUS...
SPEECH BY H.E. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 8th SULLIVAN SUMMIT, ARUSHA, 2ND JUNE, 2008
Hope Masters, President of the Leon Sullivan Foundation and Gonvener of this Summit;
Andrew Young and Carl Masters, Co-Chairs of the Leon Sullivan Summit;
Honourable Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior of the USA;
Heads of Delegation;
Delegates, Friends, Brothers and Sisters;
It is with a deep sense of humility and gratitude that I stand before you, on behalf of all Tanzanians, to welcome you all to the 8th Edition of the Leon H. Sullivan Summit being held in this cool city of Arusha. In the year 2000, when visiting Arusha, President Bill Clinton christened this city the Geneva of Africa. I hope you already understand why.
I thank the African Heads of State and Government and their representatives for accepting our invitation. And, I thank all our guests from the United States, the Caribbeans, Africa and elsewhere on this globe for honouring us with your visit. Your attendance in such a magnitude indicates the importance you attach to this Summit and assures its success.
I would like to make very special mention of Secretary Kempthorne, the US Secretary of the Interior for joining us at this Summit. The fact that you are here representing President George Bush is highly appreciated. It is very reassuring indeed. We thank you for coming and we thank President Bush for sending you here. What President George Bush has done for Africa has surpassed any other US President. We hope his legacy will endure his departure from office.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
In July, 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria I accepted, on behalf of the people of Tanzania, to host the 8th Edition of the Leon H. Sullivan Summit. Thank you for agreeing to pass on the torch to me. But I also did so on behalf of all the people of East Africa because this will be the first time ever a Sullivan Summit is held in our part of the African continent. I am sure you already feel the East African character of this Summit. The fact that many East Africans from all walks of life are participating, makes the 8th Sullivan Summit indeed, a peoples Summit.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
For Tanzanians, to receive so many people from the United States of America just four months after a colourful visit to our country by His Excellency George W. Bush, President of that great country speaks volumes about the relations of our two countries. Our relationship has never ever been so good. This Summit consolidates it further. Let us build on it for the benefit of our two peoples and our two friendly nations.
Allow me, at this juncture, to express our very sincere appreciation and gratitude to the leadership of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation for choosing Tanzania to host this extraordinary event. We are very grateful for the exceptional honour you have bestowed on our country. It is an honour that our people will always remember and cherish.
I would also like to thank and mention a few people who are key to the success, actually the existence, of this Summit. Hope Masters – the Convener, for her leadership, energy and trust in us. Without you Hope, this Summit would not have been so successful. And, of course, the entire Sullivan family – Howard, and Julie and everybody, thank you for keeping the memories of your father alive and therefore helping us remember where we have come from. Ambassador Carl Masters, you are a great man. Your achievement is not just that of being part of the Sullivan family by marrying Hope Sullivan. Your passion for seeing things done and your hands-on management style contributed immensely to the success of this Summit. Ambassador Andrew Young – you are the philosopher behind this whole enterprise. You are the one who made it all happen. You have been the inspiration and the moral authority that kept everybody together. To other leaders and staff at the Sullivan Foundation – thank you very much for your cooperation and understanding. We owe you a debt of gratitude.
Last but not least I would like to thank the Tanzania national preparatory committee, and other subcommittees, for doing a sterling job. We celebrate this achievement today because they made things happen on the ground. Mr. Philemon Luhanjo, the Chief Secretary, who chaired the committee, played a pivotal role. We thank you, as we do to Ambassador Patrick Mombo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staff in the Ministry for a job very well done.
I was very happy to note the involvement of local companies in support of the Summit. Vodacom Tanzania Limited and CRDB Bank. We thank you for your support. You have done us proud.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Our choice of Arusha as the venue for the Summit was not fortuitous. As alluded to earlier, Tanzania chose to give this Summit an East African character and Arusha is the headquarters of the East African Community, our regional economic grouping that brings together five East African nations of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
As we all know, one of the important themes of this Summit is tourism development in Africa. For us in Tanzania, Arusha is the hub of our tourism.
The famous snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, which astrides the equator, is only 50 miles (80 kms) away from Arusha. I am glad that the planned special Sullivan Mount Kilimanjaro Expedition is on track for those interested in climbing the highest mountain in Africa. There is nothing so comforting than standing on the roof of Africa at Uhuru Peak some 19,335 ft. (close to 6,000m) above sea levels.
Besides that, world renown nature and wildlife reserves such as the Serengeti National Parks and the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area are close by and can easily be accessed from Arusha. The Serengeti National Park, recently named the eighth new wonder of the world is famous for the wildebeest migration, a spectacle nothing like it on this planet.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a unique caldera 30 Kilometers wide and 600mts deep, formed by volcanic processes which took place about 2 millions years ago is home to thousands of wild animals on its floor. The other significance of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is that it is indeed the Cradle of Mankind. In 1959 at the Olduvai Gorge a 1.75 million years old skull of the closest ancestor to modern man was discovered by a British – Kenyan archeologist couple, Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey. Later in 1978, Dr. Mary Leakey made another important discovery of foot prints of humans estimated to be 3.6 million years at Laetoli, in the Western arm of the Olduvai Gorge some 50km away from where the skull was found.
All these facts and many more made Arusha the perfect natural place of choice to host the 8th Sullivan Summit. I hope many of you will take some time off and visit the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti National Park and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. But cap it all by visiting Zanzibar. This is ultimate paradise in the Indian Ocean. Besides her beauty Zanzibar is very rich in history, part of it unfortunately is not so good. Zanzibar was the place slaves were auctioned and taken to different destinations worldwide.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
This summit is about two things. First, it is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the rich life of a great Pan Africanist and a visionary leader in whose name this Summit is being held, the late Rev. Leon H. Sullivan. We are here to keep his spirit alive so that it can continue to illuminate the hearts and minds of our people both in Africa and Diaspora in our common search for true liberation.
Let us therefore make this summit a great beacon of hope to the people of Africa and the Diaspora who are struggling to live a more fulfilling and decent life. Let this summit be the concrete pedestal on which to erect the indestructible bridge between Africa and America and the rest of the world. Let us all come out of this Summit more committed to working together for a better tomorrow; an ideal for which Rev. Sullivan stood for and lived for. We should not let this opportunity pass.
Secondly, this summit is about building bridges and forging strategic investment partnerships for our common good. In Abuja, at the 7th Leon Sullivan Summit, we were able to build the requisite partnership for success. Let Arusha be the place where we will consolidate and strengthen that partnership between the people of Africa and their kith and kin in the Diaspora as well as their friends around the world. We should use the opportunity offered by this Summit to expand and deepen further the scope of our collaboration and partnership for our mutual benefit.
I would like us to use this opportunity to ask ourselves some tough questions: are we living up to the dream and promise of Rev. Sullivan? Are we doing everything we possibly could to keep our bond of kinship stronger? Are we using our human and financial resource reposited in us and the opportunities available before us to collectively deal with the challenges facing our community?
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The original African Diaspora was born from tragedy. Africans were forcefully taken from these shores, including here in Tanzania, under the most wretched conditions. Through it all, the Africans in the new world survived. But physical survival was not their only hallmark achievement. The real achievement was that a part of Africa survived within them despite the trauma of bondage of slavery. The resilience of spirit, that is inherently African, prevailed and freedom from slavery was attained.
But, to be relieved of the daily chores of a slave is one thing, and to be treated as an equal human being with the concomitant respect and dignity that equality bestows is another matter. And, on this one too, through the civil rights movement in America, the Pan-Africanist struggle against colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean, and the fight against apartheid in South Africa, we prevailed. Despite remnants of the legacy of inequality, the black man all over the world is free, and has made tremendous progress in attaining his rights and charting his own destiny.
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our common struggle: economic emancipation, and a fair opportunity to participate and share the global prosperity so that we too can live in dignity and prosperity. The nexus must be built on the realization that the social and political status of Africa and its Diaspora remain closely intertwined. Many of the economic and social challenges facing one, also face the other. One can best utilize or maximize his place in the world with the support and cooperation of the others.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is therefore fitting that the bridges that were built many decades ago, by the Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, Wallace Johnson, George Padmore, Dr. William Dubois, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyata, Julius Nyerere, and many others, on the conviction that the people of African descent deserve to be in charge of their destiny, to be free from the shackles of oppression, to be regarded as equals, and to prosper from their labour, continue to be strengthened and extended under the umbrella of the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Summits.
Your big presence here today says it all. Half a century after most of African countries gained independence and civil rights movement triumphed in the United States, aluta continua, the struggle continues. This time the challenge, ominously real and omnipresent, is economic liberation – the ultimate dividend for all the rights we fought for.
What we need to do to overcome this challenge of our time is not just to come together on an ad-hoc basis as has happened in the past. We need to create strong institutional links and mechanisms that join Africa and the Diaspora in addressing the challenges that have affected either or both of us. We need to create a mechanism that will leverage our strengths in numbers and human capacity for shared prosperity. My message today is that opportunity is before us here in Arusha to anoint the Sullivan Summit process as that people-to-people mechanism. Let us mobilize support behind the Summit. Let us expand and deepen the Summit constituency. Let us think about the inclusion of the African Diaspora in Europe in these processes. Do we have a mechanism for that?
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Africa is very proud of the achievements of its Diaspora in all spheres: politics, academia, business, entertainment, sports and media. We, in Africa, very much look to the Diaspora for three kinds of support: the first is financial resources, in the form of investments and remittances. I am told that total remittances of the African Diaspora of recent years outweigh total aid that Africa receives from donors. But the Diaspora of the former years (original Diaspora) can do a lot more. I am told together they own some US dollars 750 billion of investible financial resources. If part of that can be directed to Africa as investments every year it will go a long way towards promoting growth and development on the continent. I humbly appeal to business executives to have a serious look at this matter.
We also look to the Diaspora for human resources, in the form of transfer of skills and technology. You have the education, skills and technology which Africa doesn’t but needs badly. You can come to work. You can come to teach the young men and women of our dear continent. You can come as volunteer or as investors in training institutions to build Africa’s human capital. You can sponsor African students to study in America. You can steer your research work towards Africa.
The third thing that Africa expects of the Diaspora is political support, in the form of advocacy at the corridors of power where you reside. Some of you have some power already or, have access to those with power or at least have access to those who have access to the power that be. You can use these unique positions for the benefit of Africa. Your numbers themselves is power enough. You can swing elections. I believe you have the capacity to pitch for the cause of Africa wherever you are.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
The theme of the 8th Sullivan Summit is Tourism and Infrastructure Development. The theme is very opportune, indeed. The importance of tourism and infrastructure in the socio-economic development of Africa cannot be over-emphasized. They are critical in Africa’s development processes. But, unfortunately, Africa is lagging behind in these two key sectors.
Development of Tourism
In most African countries, Tanzania included, tourism is one of the leading sectors in promoting growth and generating foreign exchange. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, in 2007, the tourism sector in Africa grew at 8 percent which is the highest in the world. However, Africa’s share of international tourist arrivals remains too small. In 2007 world tourist arrivals reached 900 million, but Africa receive only 43 million. It is projected that, in 2010, Africa will receive 47 million tourists while global figures will be 1 billion. In 2020, international tourist arrivals worldwide will reach 1.6 billion but Africa will receive only 77 million, barely 5 percent of the global share. It is not right for Africa, with so much to offer to receive so little. We believe this equation can change. And this Summit provides an opportunity for us to find ways to leverage Africa’s natural beauty to effect that change.
It is, however, pleasing to note that most governments in Africa are now taking deliberate measures to develop this critical sector for their development. Public-private partnership has been key in these endeavours. The success which I have just alluded to is indeed the result of these efforts. But African governments and their private sectors have very limited resources at their disposal to enable them to bring about all the necessary improvements needed to upscale the competitiveness of the tourism sector.
It is for this reason that we in Africa welcome the decision of the organizers of this Summit to include discussions on the development of the tourism sector in Africa. We look forward with great anticipation the outcome of the discussions on this important matter. We expect to see more investments flowing into the African countries, teaming up with the African private sector to build the tourism infrastructure which is the critical missing link at the moment. I am glad to learn that in this hall there are people who are keen to invest in this area. We welcome you with open hands. We promise to give you every kind of support that you may need.
Development of Infrastructure
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Again, there is no need for me to labour so much to justify the importance of physical infrastructure in the socio-economic wellbeing and growth of our economies in Africa. You don’t need to be an economics guru to appreciate that critical role and potential of infrastructure: roads, railways, energy, ports, air transport, and others. Unfortunately, for Sub-Saharn Africa this critical element of growth is very much in deficit. Inadequate and inefficient infrastructure is holding back the productivity of African economies and imposes significant costs on business in terms of lost output, high transaction costs and additional costs incurred in an effort to compensate for inadequate services. Poor infrastructure, therefore, undermines Africa’s competitiveness, and prevents it from realizing its full potential.
In terms of energy, for example, Africa remains the region with the lowest electricity access in the world. With an average access of about 25 per cent, Africa lags far behind Asia and Latin America both of which are moving towards universal access. The World Bank estimates that 60 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa will still be without power in 2020. Tanzania with only 10.6 per cent access has, at least, to double its power generation capacity and quadruple its distribution network over the next ten years. Per capita power consumption in Tanzania is 62 kilowatts, while in the United States it is 12,343 kilowatts per capita. You can imagine how far behind we are, and how daunting the catching-up challenges.
We therefore have to scale up investments in generation and transmission, develop cross-border connections and grid extensions, and promote regional energy arrangements to improve affordability and access to energy services.
Better roads, railways, airports, ports and water supply are also in greater need in Africa. All of these are inadequate and where available inefficient. Most of the transport infrastructure, for example, was built by European colonial powers and served mainly to get natural resources out and facilitate their export to Europe. It was not meant to connect countries internally or with neighbours unless that served that purpose. As a result, only ten per cent of Africa’s trade today is done between African countries, partly because of poor physical connections.
Transport costs in intra-African trade are highest compared to other regions of the world. The median cost of transporting a 40-ft container in intra-Africa trade is $2000 more than it would cost to move the same container in other regions in developed and developing countries. The average cost of transporting one container from Baltimore in the USA to Sub-Saharan Africa is $7,600, an amount that is three times what it costs to ship the same container to the Middle-East and North Africa ($2,100). Obviously costly transportation is an impediment to Africa’s participation in global trade.
I am delighted that the Summit organizers have put together an incredible team of experts to exchange views and find solutions to Africa's growth challenges in the area of infrastructure development. I am confident that this Summit will emerge with some concrete actionable proposals. I hope that steps to make progress in these two key areas will be followed up in earnest. If we can succeed in dealing with the infrastructure bottlenecks to Africa development we will have put Africa’s growth prospects on a very sound footing. Africa is on a steady move and in the right direction despite imminent challenges. Things are getting better with each passing day. I believe this Summit can also contribute in many ways to that movement to a better future. We should do no less.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
This summit is taking place at a time when there is an unprecedented global interest on Africa. There is increased awareness on the part of the developed nations of North America, Europe and Asia to be more proactive in developing partnerships with Africa and being involved in Africa’s development endevours.
A number of initiatives are being created and nurtured. In all these initiatives, increased aid, trade and investment in Africa are the major issues of discussion. Consequently, a lot of financial resources are being pledged and made available to the continent for development assistance and for trade and investments. This kind of interest and show of support is very reassuring indeed for us in Africa.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
As we all know, Africa has longstanding partnership with the United States. Currently, US-Africa partnership and cooperation is at unprecedented stage. As a result of opening up of the USA markets to good from Africa through AGOA, we have witnessed exponential growth of Africa’s export to the USA in recent years. Investments from the USA firms are on the increase but I am not happy with the pace and amount being invested.
The United States government has reached out, using different initiatives, instruments and moral leadership, to support Africa’s efforts to improve governance, to fight poverty, to improve social and economic infrastructure to resolve conflicts, to improve security and to jointly fight the scourge of terrorism.
In addition to traditional support mechanisms such as aid and debt relief, we appreciate especially the new initiatives and instruments of the United States government such as the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the African Education Initiative (AEI), the Africa Financial Sector Initiative (AFSI), the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI), the Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA), the President’s Africa Mortgage Market Initiative (PAMMI), the President’s Malaria Initiative, and others.
The people of Africa will always be grateful for this support and generosity of the people of the United States towards Africa. And, we hope that the successive administrations will support Africa with renewed vigour.
Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Before I conclude, I would like to take note of the fact that this meeting is also about business. I understand that there is a business exhibition and there are entrepreneurs from Africa, from the United States and many other places who are here to meet partners, look for opportunities, create contacts, explore markets and make transactions. This is very much in keeping with the spirit and traditions of the Sullivan Summits. I understand that the Summit facilitates all that. I hope this important aspect of the Summit will go smoothly and successfully.
I am glad, also, that at this Summit the environment is going to be a major subject of discussions. Preserving a healthy environment is in the interest of all of us. It is a matter for all of us to take interest and get involved. It is heartwarming indeed that this is the spirit and objective of this Summit.
Excellencies, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It would be remiss of me if I concluded my speech without acknowledging the warmth of hospitality and generosity of the people of Arusha. You have received all of us so well. You have kept us so warm. Your smiles have made us feel very much at home. Please keep on smiling for us and for everybody else: now and in future.
Excellencies, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me end where I began. In this globalized era, the social and political status of Africa and its Diaspora remain closely intertwined. Many of the economic and social challenges facing one also face the other. There is a bond that links us but also a distance that separates us. We are distinct but related groups. We are of the same blood but not of the same environment. There is beauty and there are benefits in these diversities. We must recognize these realities if we are to work together productively for the benefit of Africa, its Diaspora and for our nations and our friends.
We in the leadership of the African continent commit ourselves to adopt policies and measures that will allow for our Diaspora to remain emotionally and practically linked with and become economically attached to Africa.
Finally, this Summit is not just about Africa and its Diaspora but it goes beyond to include our many friends and partners worldwide. The Sullivan Summits, and certainly the 8th Sullivan Summit, is about human solidarity. The history of humanity has dealt the people of African descent with the cards that are in our hands. And that certainly calls for congregations amongst us to reflect on our challenges and chart our destiny. But we do not live in isolation. And, the Almighty God has given our people the gift of capacity to work with everybody of goodwill for the greater good of humanity. Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, and all our heroes who have gone before us, will be smiling from the heavens if we manage to do that.
I thank you for your kind attention!
Hope Masters, President of the Leon Sullivan Foundation and Gonvener of this Summit;
Andrew Young and Carl Masters, Co-Chairs of the Leon Sullivan Summit;
Honourable Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior of the USA;
Heads of Delegation;
Delegates, Friends, Brothers and Sisters;
It is with a deep sense of humility and gratitude that I stand before you, on behalf of all Tanzanians, to welcome you all to the 8th Edition of the Leon H. Sullivan Summit being held in this cool city of Arusha. In the year 2000, when visiting Arusha, President Bill Clinton christened this city the Geneva of Africa. I hope you already understand why.
I thank the African Heads of State and Government and their representatives for accepting our invitation. And, I thank all our guests from the United States, the Caribbeans, Africa and elsewhere on this globe for honouring us with your visit. Your attendance in such a magnitude indicates the importance you attach to this Summit and assures its success.
I would like to make very special mention of Secretary Kempthorne, the US Secretary of the Interior for joining us at this Summit. The fact that you are here representing President George Bush is highly appreciated. It is very reassuring indeed. We thank you for coming and we thank President Bush for sending you here. What President George Bush has done for Africa has surpassed any other US President. We hope his legacy will endure his departure from office.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
In July, 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria I accepted, on behalf of the people of Tanzania, to host the 8th Edition of the Leon H. Sullivan Summit. Thank you for agreeing to pass on the torch to me. But I also did so on behalf of all the people of East Africa because this will be the first time ever a Sullivan Summit is held in our part of the African continent. I am sure you already feel the East African character of this Summit. The fact that many East Africans from all walks of life are participating, makes the 8th Sullivan Summit indeed, a peoples Summit.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
For Tanzanians, to receive so many people from the United States of America just four months after a colourful visit to our country by His Excellency George W. Bush, President of that great country speaks volumes about the relations of our two countries. Our relationship has never ever been so good. This Summit consolidates it further. Let us build on it for the benefit of our two peoples and our two friendly nations.
Allow me, at this juncture, to express our very sincere appreciation and gratitude to the leadership of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation for choosing Tanzania to host this extraordinary event. We are very grateful for the exceptional honour you have bestowed on our country. It is an honour that our people will always remember and cherish.
I would also like to thank and mention a few people who are key to the success, actually the existence, of this Summit. Hope Masters – the Convener, for her leadership, energy and trust in us. Without you Hope, this Summit would not have been so successful. And, of course, the entire Sullivan family – Howard, and Julie and everybody, thank you for keeping the memories of your father alive and therefore helping us remember where we have come from. Ambassador Carl Masters, you are a great man. Your achievement is not just that of being part of the Sullivan family by marrying Hope Sullivan. Your passion for seeing things done and your hands-on management style contributed immensely to the success of this Summit. Ambassador Andrew Young – you are the philosopher behind this whole enterprise. You are the one who made it all happen. You have been the inspiration and the moral authority that kept everybody together. To other leaders and staff at the Sullivan Foundation – thank you very much for your cooperation and understanding. We owe you a debt of gratitude.
Last but not least I would like to thank the Tanzania national preparatory committee, and other subcommittees, for doing a sterling job. We celebrate this achievement today because they made things happen on the ground. Mr. Philemon Luhanjo, the Chief Secretary, who chaired the committee, played a pivotal role. We thank you, as we do to Ambassador Patrick Mombo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staff in the Ministry for a job very well done.
I was very happy to note the involvement of local companies in support of the Summit. Vodacom Tanzania Limited and CRDB Bank. We thank you for your support. You have done us proud.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Our choice of Arusha as the venue for the Summit was not fortuitous. As alluded to earlier, Tanzania chose to give this Summit an East African character and Arusha is the headquarters of the East African Community, our regional economic grouping that brings together five East African nations of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
As we all know, one of the important themes of this Summit is tourism development in Africa. For us in Tanzania, Arusha is the hub of our tourism.
The famous snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, which astrides the equator, is only 50 miles (80 kms) away from Arusha. I am glad that the planned special Sullivan Mount Kilimanjaro Expedition is on track for those interested in climbing the highest mountain in Africa. There is nothing so comforting than standing on the roof of Africa at Uhuru Peak some 19,335 ft. (close to 6,000m) above sea levels.
Besides that, world renown nature and wildlife reserves such as the Serengeti National Parks and the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area are close by and can easily be accessed from Arusha. The Serengeti National Park, recently named the eighth new wonder of the world is famous for the wildebeest migration, a spectacle nothing like it on this planet.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a unique caldera 30 Kilometers wide and 600mts deep, formed by volcanic processes which took place about 2 millions years ago is home to thousands of wild animals on its floor. The other significance of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is that it is indeed the Cradle of Mankind. In 1959 at the Olduvai Gorge a 1.75 million years old skull of the closest ancestor to modern man was discovered by a British – Kenyan archeologist couple, Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey. Later in 1978, Dr. Mary Leakey made another important discovery of foot prints of humans estimated to be 3.6 million years at Laetoli, in the Western arm of the Olduvai Gorge some 50km away from where the skull was found.
All these facts and many more made Arusha the perfect natural place of choice to host the 8th Sullivan Summit. I hope many of you will take some time off and visit the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti National Park and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. But cap it all by visiting Zanzibar. This is ultimate paradise in the Indian Ocean. Besides her beauty Zanzibar is very rich in history, part of it unfortunately is not so good. Zanzibar was the place slaves were auctioned and taken to different destinations worldwide.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
This summit is about two things. First, it is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the rich life of a great Pan Africanist and a visionary leader in whose name this Summit is being held, the late Rev. Leon H. Sullivan. We are here to keep his spirit alive so that it can continue to illuminate the hearts and minds of our people both in Africa and Diaspora in our common search for true liberation.
Let us therefore make this summit a great beacon of hope to the people of Africa and the Diaspora who are struggling to live a more fulfilling and decent life. Let this summit be the concrete pedestal on which to erect the indestructible bridge between Africa and America and the rest of the world. Let us all come out of this Summit more committed to working together for a better tomorrow; an ideal for which Rev. Sullivan stood for and lived for. We should not let this opportunity pass.
Secondly, this summit is about building bridges and forging strategic investment partnerships for our common good. In Abuja, at the 7th Leon Sullivan Summit, we were able to build the requisite partnership for success. Let Arusha be the place where we will consolidate and strengthen that partnership between the people of Africa and their kith and kin in the Diaspora as well as their friends around the world. We should use the opportunity offered by this Summit to expand and deepen further the scope of our collaboration and partnership for our mutual benefit.
I would like us to use this opportunity to ask ourselves some tough questions: are we living up to the dream and promise of Rev. Sullivan? Are we doing everything we possibly could to keep our bond of kinship stronger? Are we using our human and financial resource reposited in us and the opportunities available before us to collectively deal with the challenges facing our community?
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The original African Diaspora was born from tragedy. Africans were forcefully taken from these shores, including here in Tanzania, under the most wretched conditions. Through it all, the Africans in the new world survived. But physical survival was not their only hallmark achievement. The real achievement was that a part of Africa survived within them despite the trauma of bondage of slavery. The resilience of spirit, that is inherently African, prevailed and freedom from slavery was attained.
But, to be relieved of the daily chores of a slave is one thing, and to be treated as an equal human being with the concomitant respect and dignity that equality bestows is another matter. And, on this one too, through the civil rights movement in America, the Pan-Africanist struggle against colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean, and the fight against apartheid in South Africa, we prevailed. Despite remnants of the legacy of inequality, the black man all over the world is free, and has made tremendous progress in attaining his rights and charting his own destiny.
Now we have arrived at the third stage of our common struggle: economic emancipation, and a fair opportunity to participate and share the global prosperity so that we too can live in dignity and prosperity. The nexus must be built on the realization that the social and political status of Africa and its Diaspora remain closely intertwined. Many of the economic and social challenges facing one, also face the other. One can best utilize or maximize his place in the world with the support and cooperation of the others.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is therefore fitting that the bridges that were built many decades ago, by the Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, Wallace Johnson, George Padmore, Dr. William Dubois, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyata, Julius Nyerere, and many others, on the conviction that the people of African descent deserve to be in charge of their destiny, to be free from the shackles of oppression, to be regarded as equals, and to prosper from their labour, continue to be strengthened and extended under the umbrella of the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan Summits.
Your big presence here today says it all. Half a century after most of African countries gained independence and civil rights movement triumphed in the United States, aluta continua, the struggle continues. This time the challenge, ominously real and omnipresent, is economic liberation – the ultimate dividend for all the rights we fought for.
What we need to do to overcome this challenge of our time is not just to come together on an ad-hoc basis as has happened in the past. We need to create strong institutional links and mechanisms that join Africa and the Diaspora in addressing the challenges that have affected either or both of us. We need to create a mechanism that will leverage our strengths in numbers and human capacity for shared prosperity. My message today is that opportunity is before us here in Arusha to anoint the Sullivan Summit process as that people-to-people mechanism. Let us mobilize support behind the Summit. Let us expand and deepen the Summit constituency. Let us think about the inclusion of the African Diaspora in Europe in these processes. Do we have a mechanism for that?
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Africa is very proud of the achievements of its Diaspora in all spheres: politics, academia, business, entertainment, sports and media. We, in Africa, very much look to the Diaspora for three kinds of support: the first is financial resources, in the form of investments and remittances. I am told that total remittances of the African Diaspora of recent years outweigh total aid that Africa receives from donors. But the Diaspora of the former years (original Diaspora) can do a lot more. I am told together they own some US dollars 750 billion of investible financial resources. If part of that can be directed to Africa as investments every year it will go a long way towards promoting growth and development on the continent. I humbly appeal to business executives to have a serious look at this matter.
We also look to the Diaspora for human resources, in the form of transfer of skills and technology. You have the education, skills and technology which Africa doesn’t but needs badly. You can come to work. You can come to teach the young men and women of our dear continent. You can come as volunteer or as investors in training institutions to build Africa’s human capital. You can sponsor African students to study in America. You can steer your research work towards Africa.
The third thing that Africa expects of the Diaspora is political support, in the form of advocacy at the corridors of power where you reside. Some of you have some power already or, have access to those with power or at least have access to those who have access to the power that be. You can use these unique positions for the benefit of Africa. Your numbers themselves is power enough. You can swing elections. I believe you have the capacity to pitch for the cause of Africa wherever you are.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
The theme of the 8th Sullivan Summit is Tourism and Infrastructure Development. The theme is very opportune, indeed. The importance of tourism and infrastructure in the socio-economic development of Africa cannot be over-emphasized. They are critical in Africa’s development processes. But, unfortunately, Africa is lagging behind in these two key sectors.
Development of Tourism
In most African countries, Tanzania included, tourism is one of the leading sectors in promoting growth and generating foreign exchange. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, in 2007, the tourism sector in Africa grew at 8 percent which is the highest in the world. However, Africa’s share of international tourist arrivals remains too small. In 2007 world tourist arrivals reached 900 million, but Africa receive only 43 million. It is projected that, in 2010, Africa will receive 47 million tourists while global figures will be 1 billion. In 2020, international tourist arrivals worldwide will reach 1.6 billion but Africa will receive only 77 million, barely 5 percent of the global share. It is not right for Africa, with so much to offer to receive so little. We believe this equation can change. And this Summit provides an opportunity for us to find ways to leverage Africa’s natural beauty to effect that change.
It is, however, pleasing to note that most governments in Africa are now taking deliberate measures to develop this critical sector for their development. Public-private partnership has been key in these endeavours. The success which I have just alluded to is indeed the result of these efforts. But African governments and their private sectors have very limited resources at their disposal to enable them to bring about all the necessary improvements needed to upscale the competitiveness of the tourism sector.
It is for this reason that we in Africa welcome the decision of the organizers of this Summit to include discussions on the development of the tourism sector in Africa. We look forward with great anticipation the outcome of the discussions on this important matter. We expect to see more investments flowing into the African countries, teaming up with the African private sector to build the tourism infrastructure which is the critical missing link at the moment. I am glad to learn that in this hall there are people who are keen to invest in this area. We welcome you with open hands. We promise to give you every kind of support that you may need.
Development of Infrastructure
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Again, there is no need for me to labour so much to justify the importance of physical infrastructure in the socio-economic wellbeing and growth of our economies in Africa. You don’t need to be an economics guru to appreciate that critical role and potential of infrastructure: roads, railways, energy, ports, air transport, and others. Unfortunately, for Sub-Saharn Africa this critical element of growth is very much in deficit. Inadequate and inefficient infrastructure is holding back the productivity of African economies and imposes significant costs on business in terms of lost output, high transaction costs and additional costs incurred in an effort to compensate for inadequate services. Poor infrastructure, therefore, undermines Africa’s competitiveness, and prevents it from realizing its full potential.
In terms of energy, for example, Africa remains the region with the lowest electricity access in the world. With an average access of about 25 per cent, Africa lags far behind Asia and Latin America both of which are moving towards universal access. The World Bank estimates that 60 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa will still be without power in 2020. Tanzania with only 10.6 per cent access has, at least, to double its power generation capacity and quadruple its distribution network over the next ten years. Per capita power consumption in Tanzania is 62 kilowatts, while in the United States it is 12,343 kilowatts per capita. You can imagine how far behind we are, and how daunting the catching-up challenges.
We therefore have to scale up investments in generation and transmission, develop cross-border connections and grid extensions, and promote regional energy arrangements to improve affordability and access to energy services.
Better roads, railways, airports, ports and water supply are also in greater need in Africa. All of these are inadequate and where available inefficient. Most of the transport infrastructure, for example, was built by European colonial powers and served mainly to get natural resources out and facilitate their export to Europe. It was not meant to connect countries internally or with neighbours unless that served that purpose. As a result, only ten per cent of Africa’s trade today is done between African countries, partly because of poor physical connections.
Transport costs in intra-African trade are highest compared to other regions of the world. The median cost of transporting a 40-ft container in intra-Africa trade is $2000 more than it would cost to move the same container in other regions in developed and developing countries. The average cost of transporting one container from Baltimore in the USA to Sub-Saharan Africa is $7,600, an amount that is three times what it costs to ship the same container to the Middle-East and North Africa ($2,100). Obviously costly transportation is an impediment to Africa’s participation in global trade.
I am delighted that the Summit organizers have put together an incredible team of experts to exchange views and find solutions to Africa's growth challenges in the area of infrastructure development. I am confident that this Summit will emerge with some concrete actionable proposals. I hope that steps to make progress in these two key areas will be followed up in earnest. If we can succeed in dealing with the infrastructure bottlenecks to Africa development we will have put Africa’s growth prospects on a very sound footing. Africa is on a steady move and in the right direction despite imminent challenges. Things are getting better with each passing day. I believe this Summit can also contribute in many ways to that movement to a better future. We should do no less.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
This summit is taking place at a time when there is an unprecedented global interest on Africa. There is increased awareness on the part of the developed nations of North America, Europe and Asia to be more proactive in developing partnerships with Africa and being involved in Africa’s development endevours.
A number of initiatives are being created and nurtured. In all these initiatives, increased aid, trade and investment in Africa are the major issues of discussion. Consequently, a lot of financial resources are being pledged and made available to the continent for development assistance and for trade and investments. This kind of interest and show of support is very reassuring indeed for us in Africa.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
As we all know, Africa has longstanding partnership with the United States. Currently, US-Africa partnership and cooperation is at unprecedented stage. As a result of opening up of the USA markets to good from Africa through AGOA, we have witnessed exponential growth of Africa’s export to the USA in recent years. Investments from the USA firms are on the increase but I am not happy with the pace and amount being invested.
The United States government has reached out, using different initiatives, instruments and moral leadership, to support Africa’s efforts to improve governance, to fight poverty, to improve social and economic infrastructure to resolve conflicts, to improve security and to jointly fight the scourge of terrorism.
In addition to traditional support mechanisms such as aid and debt relief, we appreciate especially the new initiatives and instruments of the United States government such as the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the African Education Initiative (AEI), the Africa Financial Sector Initiative (AFSI), the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI), the Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA), the President’s Africa Mortgage Market Initiative (PAMMI), the President’s Malaria Initiative, and others.
The people of Africa will always be grateful for this support and generosity of the people of the United States towards Africa. And, we hope that the successive administrations will support Africa with renewed vigour.
Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Before I conclude, I would like to take note of the fact that this meeting is also about business. I understand that there is a business exhibition and there are entrepreneurs from Africa, from the United States and many other places who are here to meet partners, look for opportunities, create contacts, explore markets and make transactions. This is very much in keeping with the spirit and traditions of the Sullivan Summits. I understand that the Summit facilitates all that. I hope this important aspect of the Summit will go smoothly and successfully.
I am glad, also, that at this Summit the environment is going to be a major subject of discussions. Preserving a healthy environment is in the interest of all of us. It is a matter for all of us to take interest and get involved. It is heartwarming indeed that this is the spirit and objective of this Summit.
Excellencies, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It would be remiss of me if I concluded my speech without acknowledging the warmth of hospitality and generosity of the people of Arusha. You have received all of us so well. You have kept us so warm. Your smiles have made us feel very much at home. Please keep on smiling for us and for everybody else: now and in future.
Excellencies, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me end where I began. In this globalized era, the social and political status of Africa and its Diaspora remain closely intertwined. Many of the economic and social challenges facing one also face the other. There is a bond that links us but also a distance that separates us. We are distinct but related groups. We are of the same blood but not of the same environment. There is beauty and there are benefits in these diversities. We must recognize these realities if we are to work together productively for the benefit of Africa, its Diaspora and for our nations and our friends.
We in the leadership of the African continent commit ourselves to adopt policies and measures that will allow for our Diaspora to remain emotionally and practically linked with and become economically attached to Africa.
Finally, this Summit is not just about Africa and its Diaspora but it goes beyond to include our many friends and partners worldwide. The Sullivan Summits, and certainly the 8th Sullivan Summit, is about human solidarity. The history of humanity has dealt the people of African descent with the cards that are in our hands. And that certainly calls for congregations amongst us to reflect on our challenges and chart our destiny. But we do not live in isolation. And, the Almighty God has given our people the gift of capacity to work with everybody of goodwill for the greater good of humanity. Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, and all our heroes who have gone before us, will be smiling from the heavens if we manage to do that.
I thank you for your kind attention!
Pichani Rais Kikwete akisalimiana na Hope Masters ambaye ni Rais na Mtendaji Mkuu wa Sulivan baada ya kumaliza hotuba yake.
COMMENTS