The Annual Review and Strategy Meeting of the Africa Trade Network (ATN), of which EJN is a member, took place from 11 – 14 August 2009 in Accra, Ghana.

The focus of the four-day meeting fell on the impact of the financial and economic crises on Africa and its economy, crises that have exposed the flaws and fallacies of neo-liberal economic globalisation. EJN director Malcolm Damon reports.

 

The notion that the state must limit its involvement in the economy and leave the free market to drive economic growth and prosperity for all has been laid bare as a mask hiding capitalist greed and the self-interest of multinational corporations.

The crises have impacted devastatingly on Africa, its economies and peoples; the impact on trade has been particularly severe. The continent faces an estimated loss of trade earnings of more than $251 billion. According to ATN, African governments will lose a further $19 billion in tax trade revenues, which is fully 10% of total government spending.

South Africa, the largest economy on the continent, is in a deep and continuing recession that has affected all sectors of the economy. Currency exchange rates in Nigeria and Ghana have steeply depreciated; remittances to most African countries – which are the life-blood of innumerable families – have fallen sharply.  

 It is for this reason that the Annual Review Meeting of ATN focused on the financial and economic crises. The objectives of the meeting were to:

• provide information on, and analysis of, the inter-related aspects of the global crisis in terms of food, energy, climate, finance, trade and production;
• delineate their common sources, origins, impacts and alternative responses; and
• chart a framework within which civil society organisations and campaigns on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), World Trade Organisation (WTO), Debt, Resource Extraction and Climate Change can take on board the challenges posed by the global economy.

The programme focused on the scope and impact of the financial crises, the crises within the framework of neo-liberal economic globalisation, and the linkages between trade and commodities. It also focused on the impact of the financial and economic crises on climate change and the options for Africa towards and beyond the Copenhagen Summit. In addition, several speakers focused on the gender dimensions of the crises and specifically its impact on women.

Malcolm Damon represented EJN at the meeting. For more information, see the attached statement.