Boston University brought together nine former Africa heads of state this week with American global business leaders, politicians and policy makers for the second annual African Presidential Roundtable, hosted by the African Presidential Archives and Research Center.
The three-day summit, which began in London, discussed strategies for attracting business and increasing capital flows to the continent.
APARC Director and former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Charles Stith welcomed the nine African leaders, from seven different states, to BU’s Kensington campus in England last Wednesday.
After last year’s daylong inaugural roundtable convened in Boston, APARC expanded the conference this year to make it a trans-continental conversation involving Europe, Africa and the United States, APARC officials said.
APARC convened the first session of Roundtable 2004 in London because it is one of the world’s major financial centers, and Africa sees England as playing a special role in its financial future, said former Botswanan President Q. Ketumile Masire, who attended the roundtable.
“In talking about access to capital, it pays to be where the money is,” Stith said.
The talks focused on increasing the economic status of Africa, a continent of 53 counties and nearly 800 million inhabitants that receives only 4 percent of the global private capital.
“Africa has been excluded for too long in terms of having access to its fair place in the global economy,” Masire said. “On the other hand, Africa has never been more primed to take its place in the global economy.”
The purpose of the roundtable’s opening day was to “take the albatross of neglect from around Africa’s neck and replace it with a sign that says ‘Africa is open for business,'” Masire said.
“It was a lively and substantive discussion about the importance of Africa having greater access to the world’s markets,” Stith said.
Stith said in addition to former African presidents, he was impressed by the quality of this year’s participants from the private sector, which included international chief executive officers and BU Provost Dennis Berkey.
Before preparing to continue the conversations in Boston on Tuesday, roundtable participants attended a reception honoring the former African heads of state at the Gloucester Millennium Conservatory in London, Stith said.
The roundtable moved to BU’s Charles River Campus on Tuesday when the heads of state convened to discuss the difficulties Africa has faced in claiming its place in the global market and how they hope the United States can help African countries get the economic opportunities they deserve.
“American is looking to rush us,” said Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo, a former president of the Republic of Benin. “We have to go at our own speed to adjust our economy.”
Karl Auguste Offmann, former president of the Republic of Mauritius and BU’s third African president-in-residence, said the United States needs to understand that they have had hundreds of years to develop in the way they expect Africa to develop in only 50 years.
“The first [independence] wasn’t until the early ’60s. Before that, all of the countries were under colonial rule,” Offmann said. “How can you expect us to do in 50 years which you have taken hundreds and sometimes thousands of years to reach? If you give us time, we will reach that level. Give us this time and you will not be disappointed.”
Aristides Maria Pereira, the former president of the Republic of Cape Verde, said language division in Africa is a barrier to economic development.
“I’ve been in a situation when I was before an English-speaking head of state and I could not communicate with him,” Pereira said through a translator. “That gives you an example of the difficulty Africa has in claiming its place in the world.”
Overall, the discussions have brought rare opportunities for BU students and will help boost the university’s reputation, Stith said.
The roundtable “enhances BU’s profile and reputation as an epicenter of dialogue and discussion,” Stith said.
The summit will conclude in Boston today with a black-tie dinner and gala at the Four Seasons Hotel.
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