Speech by President Kikwete addressing the University of the West Indies

SPEECH BY H.E. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA ADDRESSING THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST INDIES, MONA CAMPUS
ON 25TH NOVEMBER 2009

The Principal of UWI, Mona Campus, Prof. Hon. Gordon Shirley;
Honorable Members of the Parliament;
Mr. Vice Chancellor;
Deans and Directors;
Heads of Departments;
Members of the Academic Community;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I thank the Principal and the entire leadership and community of the University of West Indies, Mona Campus for organizing this event. I thank you for the warm welcome and more importantly for affording me the opportunity to speak at this prestigious and well respected University the world over. It is an honour I will always cherish.

For me, visiting this University, rekindles fond memories about one late Professor Walter Rodney. He is one person who made a big impression during my formative years in my life to the extent I can say that, partly I am what I am today because of him. I know he is an alumni of this great University and he taught here before coming to the University of Dar es Salaam. I thank you for giving us this great intellectual.

Mr. Principal;
I have been asked to speak about "Africa and the Caribbean in the Age of Globalization". I consider this topic both pertinent and timely given the global socio-economic challenges we face. However, it is too broad to be discussed within the limited time we have. I therefore intend to focus more on the challenges faced by Africa and Caribbean countries in the current era of globalization.

Globalization as a process of making economies of nations become part of the world marketplace is not new. It has been there for many centuries and will be there eternally. Globalisation has shaped the world's political and economic architecture today and will continue to do so in the future. For countries of Africa and the Caribbean to be part of the current form of globalisation is very much a function of the rise of capitalism in Western Europe. The need to get cheap labour, raw materials, expansion of markets, trade and areas of investment on the part of European entrepreneurs caused the opening up of the uncharted territories in the world including these in Africa and the Caribbean.

There are three things or processes which made Africa and the Caribbean to be part of a globalised world. These were the slave trade, colonialism and exploitation of resources. Through these processes African and the Caribbean socio-economic formations were introduced and permanently linked to the global market economy. However, the contribution of these three frameworks to the current phase of globalization is rarely acknowledged.

Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen;
In the current era of globalization, the world has experienced unprecedented expansion, deepening and diversification of trade and financial flows, movement of people, and exchange of information and technology across the world. Revolution in information and communication technology and transportation technology has created a village out of our globe.

Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen;
This transformation has enabled individuals and institutions to make informed choices about what they endeavor to accomplish. However, this opening up has entailed competition between countries at different levels of development, and enterprises with different capacities and different resource endowment. It is these imbalances which poses the biggest challenge with regards to how stakeholders would benefit equitably from globalisation. How do we make developing nations and up and coming companies and entrepreneurs from developing countries become win-win players in the globalised world? I see four things which need particular attention.

Economic Challenges
Mr. Chancellor;
As a result of the legacy of the colonial economy, most African and Caribbean countries found themselves as suppliers of raw materials for industries of the developed countries. The sad part is that globalization has constructed a global trading architecture which has not only condemned countries of Africa and the Caribbean to be perpetual suppliers of raw materials, but also continue to short-changed as far as unfair prices for their commodities is concerned. This has made Africa and Caribbean countries not to benefit equitably. Their share of global trade to remain low. For Sub-Saharan Africa it was at a mere 0.5 percent in 2006.

This is a contradiction in terms for globalization, because ideally, globalisation is supposed to open up market and increase opportunities for all players. Globalization was also supposed to be a catalyst for easing the movement of capital and effect increased investment across nations. But, as far as Africa and Caribbean are concerned, this has not been the case.
Africa and the Caribbean have managed to attract a very small proportion of global FDI flows. Most FDI flows have moved between developed countries themselves. For example, in 2008 Africa received 5 percent of global FDI flows, while the Caribbean managed to attract 1 percent of such flows. Now, compare with 57 percent of global FDI flow to the developed countries in the same year. What is disappointing about this trend is the fact that it has continued at a time our countries have made greater efforts to improve investment climates. Sadly enough, also, while we are being sidelined from the benefits of globalization, we are not spared by the negative effects of mismanagement of the integrated global economic and financial system. A case in point is the recent global financial meltdown and economic downturn which we were not responsible but turn out to be big losers as well.

Poverty Reduction
Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen;
There has been a debate among scholars as to what is the impact of globalization on poverty. There are those who think that globalization leads to marginalization of the poor and those who see opportunities within globalization that lead to more growth, increased incomes and reduction of poverty. Indeed, depending on the way it is managed globalization can be either a force for advantage or a force for disadvantage.

One fact is clear, that, Africa and the Caribbean have been landed into the globalization equation from a disadvantaged position. Unfortunately the colonial powers who were responsible for this did not bother to help build our capacities in terms of human resources, financial resources, technical and skills, and technology that would make it easy for our countries to take advantage of the opportunities offered by globalisation.

Africa and Caribbean cannot benefit equitably from globalization if we cannot move faster to correct this deficit. This is a matter we should align ourselves to do. Nobody will do it for us. There are not so many benevolent people in this world. It is important to understand that globalization means that Africa and the Caribbean compete in the same stage for FDI, for skilled manpower, and so on - with developed nations. It is clear that we will be facing monumental task. We must face the world as it is, not as how we wish it could be.

Communication Technology
Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Developments in the ICT sector have created unprecedented opportunities to mankind. Leveraging ICT for our development is a critical as we strive to build strong capacities to complete in a globalised world market place. However, there are three major challenges faced by resource constrained countries of the Caribbean and Africa. The first one is the financial resources to access the technology and the second is the capacity to keep pace with the speed with which the IC technology is changing. The change taking place is very fast and not only difficult but too costly for these countries to cope with the pace.

Thirdly, rapid changes in information technologies and the eminence of knowledge based industries have caught most of our countries' education systems off guard. It is important that Africa and the Caribbean re-organize their education and training systems to exploit opportunities provided by globalization in this area. This would also usher in new and appropriate technologies and approaches relevant to our situation. We will not be able to compete and survive in this globalized age if we do not build knowledge economies. To accomplish this task, we need to invest more in education particularly science based studies and in quality education from lower levels to highest level of education.

One way to handle this is to direct national efforts towards leveraging ICT in our teaching in all our schools. The challenge for resource constrained countries of the Caribbean and Africa then is how to get the financial resources to do this. I believe this is possible if we rearrange our priorities properly and give due regard to this important tool of our development.

Global Governance
Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Another challenge is related to the lack of voice and influence by Africa and the Caribbean in the institutions governing the global economic, financial and trading architecture. Africa and the Caribbean were integrated in the global economy from weak positions. The dominance of institutions of global economic governance such as World Bank, IMF and WTO in the affairs of developing countries especially the Least Developed Countries sometimes undermines the capacity of these countries to set and implement development priorities. The same can be said of the development including the European Union with the Economic Partnership Agreement structures.
Globalization has brought global institutions closer together in their dealing with developing countries than ever before. One way to deal with this challenge is for us to unite, work together and fight together for our rightful share of the globalisation cake administered through those institutions. In the 1960s and 1970s developing countries were strongly united in many fronts including the search for new economic order and support for liberation struggle. We used various institutions and organisations such as the Non-Alignment Movement, the Group of 77 and China, ACP and many others. However, changes in the international institutions' strategies for dealing with developing countries have today left us more fragmented in our endeavors. In many negotiations, including those that we used to enter as large blocks are now required to enter as individual countries or smaller blocks.

We need to appreciate as a matter of urgency the fact that our strength lies in our unity. Together we stand and achieve, divided we fall and lose. We should all endeavour to rekindle the spirit of the past and forge stronger bonds of cooperation and solidarity through AU, NAM, G 77 and ACP. At the same time let us advance South-South Cooperation and increase trade among ourselves. In this regard, strengthening our regional organisations and increasing cooperation between our regional bodies is of essence. I would like at this point to invoice the wisdom one of the sterling advocates of South-South Cooperation the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Father of the Tanzanian nation, when he underscored the importance of unity, when he said: Umoja ni nguvu na utengano ni udhaifu simply translated as "Unity is power and division breeds weakness".

Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Allow me to end my presentation by once again thanking you Mr. Chancellor and the entire University community for making this event possible. I am grateful for the opportunity to share views on this with members of this University important subject.

Thank you for your kind attention !!!

We know that globalization is a reality and it is here to stay. The challenge for our generation is to ensure that it does not become another device to keep our economies backward. One way to deal with this challenge is to advance South-South Cooperation. Developing countries are not trading among themselves as much as they should. Tanzania and Jamaica are members of the South Commission. This is a useful framework to ensure that globalization works for the Caribbean and Africa.