Health equity in economic and trade policies

Genetic Engineering of crops means that recombination DNA technology is used to insert, delete, transpose and substitute new genes in plants. The author notes that new gene products may serve as allergens capable of inducing illness in consumers. Antibiotic resistance genes are reported to be used to enable the selection of bacteria harbouring the desired gene, a technique which is thought to contribute to increasing resistance of bacteria to well established antibiotics such as penicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline and numerous others. The effect of the viral vector used in gene transfers on the environment, crops and individual consumers is not known. The author calls for an active regulatory guide by the United Nation Organization to safeguard the human population, the environment and life in general.

The author argues that Africa has not benefited substantially from its mineral wealth and that it is essential for resource-rich African countries to tailor their economic policies to harness and utilise mineral revenues to improve the productivity of non-mineral sectors to break out of the extractive enclave. The article observes that the remarkable extractives-driven economic growth of the last decade across Africa failed to trickle down. It was jobless, benefited foreign corporates and the local elite, and it widened the gap between the rich and the poor. If Africa is to avoid the failures of the previous decades and successfully transition from its present state to that foreseen by Agenda 2030 then the author proposes that it must better harness the potential benefits of its vast mineral wealth. African countries must institute fiscal reforms that will ensure that they are better positioned to derive maximum benefit from the next commodity price super cycle; they must plug loopholes that continue to facilitate the bleeding of much needed development revenues via illicit flows; countries must align all relevant local frameworks to the African Mining Vision, thereby putting the needs of citizens at the centre of their natural resource management agenda; and Africa must unite in a broad and strong push for long overdue global tax reforms.

In the morning of the second day of the EU-Africa Summit representatives from the side-events got the opportunity to present their views to the Heads of States and Governments. Civil Society Organisations, Youth, Trade Unions and the Private Sector got three minutes respectively. Alpha Omar Konaré, president of the African Commission expressed that he was very happy with the fact that there were ‘many voices’ of civil representation - entrepreneurs, the youth and various associations - that are involved in the partnership between the two continents and ready to collaborate so that this cooperation between Europe and Africa can develop in a positive way for all parties. He also quoted the Civil Society Declaration, mentioning the lack of power equilibrium between both Continents.

Private Chinese outbound investment, not as well-known as government-led investment, offers both opportunities and challenges for Africa, according to this paper. The significance of Chinese private-sector investment is already visible in the burgeoning manufacturing sector in some parts of Africa, and the trend will continue to grow in the near future. The underlying force behind this trend is the increased pressure of industrial restructuring in coastal China, a force that drives some labour-intensive firms to relocate to other parts of the developing world, including Africa. The author argues that African host country governments can respond to this phenomenon with proactive development policies and strategies to maximise private Chinese investment for the benefit of their own economies.