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On Last Africa Stop, Bono Pledges Fight Over Trade
ACCRA, May 25 -- After a successful campaign to cancel the debts of some of the world's poorest countries, rocker-activist Bono is about to take on the world's powerbrokers to improve the terms of trade for Africa.
On the last stop of a six-nation African tour, Bono said on Wednesday there was a new mood of optimism on the continent and new entrepreneurs were emerging, but farm subsidies and other trade barriers in large markets like the United States and Europe were blocking progress.
In an interview with Reuters, Bono said he recognized taking on the trade issue on behalf of Africa was not going to be easy.
"We're up against vested interests and big powerful lobby groups," he said after touring a market in the capital Accra.
He also said he and other trade activists would need to get better at explaining to U.S. and European farmers how their agricultural subsidies were hurting African producers.
Bono hopes his involvement will help give Africa a voice at the World Trade Organization's global Doha Round of talks, currently stalled over agricultural issues.
"The social movements will give us political muscle and that makes it doable, but it is going to be a big fight," he added.
On the Africa tour Bono has visited textile and apparel factories in Lesotho and Tanzania where businesses have closed and jobs were lost because of the phasing out of the Multi-Fibre Agreement, which gave Asian producers greater access to developed markets as quotas under the agreement were scrapped.
In Mali, he visited a cotton-growing community to see the direct impact of U.S. cotton subsidies, which African cotton producers say depress world prices and ruin their economies.
In Ghana, Bono said uncertainty over the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives developing countries preferential access to the United States market, was hanging like a "Sword of Damocles" over the head of African countries.
Earlier in the day, the rock star met Ghanaian businesspeople to better understand constraints on businesses.
"People need aid because there is still poverty but more important for everyone is the need for trade," he told his audience. "Africa should be able to create an alternative to the sort of Chinese domination of the apparel sector," he added.
The U2 lead singer played a key role in marshalling popular support for debt forgiveness for some of the world's poorest countries and used his fame to influence world leaders in personal meetings.
In June last year the Group of Eight industrialized countries agreed to write off the debts of 18 countries, most of them in Africa, and double aid to the continent by 2010.
At a meeting with Bono on Wednesday, Ghana's President John Kufuor praised the rock star's work for Africa but told him that increased trade had to go hand-in-hand with aid to address the continent's underlying poverty.
"Our part of the world is in transition and it will take some muscle to keep up the changes," he told the rock star after a meeting. "With the right policies and some encouragement, we will be able through partnerships to compete. For Ghana to get to such a position we will need some aid," he added.
--Reuters
On Last Africa Stop, Bono Pledges Fight Over Trade
ACCRA, May 25 -- After a successful campaign to cancel the debts of some of the world's poorest countries, rocker-activist Bono is about to take on the world's powerbrokers to improve the terms of trade for Africa.
On the last stop of a six-nation African tour, Bono said on Wednesday there was a new mood of optimism on the continent and new entrepreneurs were emerging, but farm subsidies and other trade barriers in large markets like the United States and Europe were blocking progress.
In an interview with Reuters, Bono said he recognized taking on the trade issue on behalf of Africa was not going to be easy.
"We're up against vested interests and big powerful lobby groups," he said after touring a market in the capital Accra.
He also said he and other trade activists would need to get better at explaining to U.S. and European farmers how their agricultural subsidies were hurting African producers.
Bono hopes his involvement will help give Africa a voice at the World Trade Organization's global Doha Round of talks, currently stalled over agricultural issues.
"The social movements will give us political muscle and that makes it doable, but it is going to be a big fight," he added.
On the Africa tour Bono has visited textile and apparel factories in Lesotho and Tanzania where businesses have closed and jobs were lost because of the phasing out of the Multi-Fibre Agreement, which gave Asian producers greater access to developed markets as quotas under the agreement were scrapped.
In Mali, he visited a cotton-growing community to see the direct impact of U.S. cotton subsidies, which African cotton producers say depress world prices and ruin their economies.
In Ghana, Bono said uncertainty over the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives developing countries preferential access to the United States market, was hanging like a "Sword of Damocles" over the head of African countries.
Earlier in the day, the rock star met Ghanaian businesspeople to better understand constraints on businesses.
"People need aid because there is still poverty but more important for everyone is the need for trade," he told his audience. "Africa should be able to create an alternative to the sort of Chinese domination of the apparel sector," he added.
The U2 lead singer played a key role in marshalling popular support for debt forgiveness for some of the world's poorest countries and used his fame to influence world leaders in personal meetings.
In June last year the Group of Eight industrialized countries agreed to write off the debts of 18 countries, most of them in Africa, and double aid to the continent by 2010.
At a meeting with Bono on Wednesday, Ghana's President John Kufuor praised the rock star's work for Africa but told him that increased trade had to go hand-in-hand with aid to address the continent's underlying poverty.
"Our part of the world is in transition and it will take some muscle to keep up the changes," he told the rock star after a meeting. "With the right policies and some encouragement, we will be able through partnerships to compete. For Ghana to get to such a position we will need some aid," he added.
--Reuters
