African nations have decided to use the wealth that comes in from the mining industry for the development of the weaker sections of their economies.
The decision was part of the declaration made at the 2nd African Union Conference on a Sustainable Future for Africa’s Extractive Industry.
The historic conference was held in Addis Ababa and was attended by more than half the countries of the African continent including Algeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. The 29 attending delegates have formulated and adopted the African Mining Vision and Action Plan.
Antonio Pedro from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was one of the key drafters of the declaration. He said that they were moving from a period where each government in Africa was trying to have the best possible fiscal regimes and incentives to attract investment, to a period where governments are trying to ensure that mineral resources can contribute to broad based development.
The declaration states that at the centre of the Vision is a developmental state that integrates the mining sector into broader social and economic developmental processes. It asks the African nations to swiftly reform its policy space to align it to the tenets of the Africa Mining Vision.
Sinkinesh Ejigu, who chaired the mining conference, is the Minister for Mines of Ethiopia. She said that in order to implement this vision, they needed to create a transparent, equitable exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development.