Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-11-Speech-2-136"
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"en.20000411.6.2-136"2
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"Mr President, I welcome the fact that the Cairo EU-African summit took place, but I must stress my disappointment that no one from this democratically elected Parliament had the opportunity to address the summit, nor did NGOs have any input. At the very least, the two Co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly could have made statements and this would have given an EU-African balance.
Members of this Parliament, through the Committee on Development and Cooperation and the ACP-EU Joint Assembly, have laid the foundation for many of the policies in the developing countries: the Martens report in 1997 pointing to the benefits of the Lomé Agreement; the Rocard report in 1998 strengthening the objectives for the future; my own report in 1999 on regional cooperation and integration which is top of the Cairo plan of action agenda; lastly, Mrs Kinnock's excellent report in 2000 on the future ACP-EU partnership agreement that sets the scene for the next 20 years. The final Cairo plan of action is an excellent document if we can now turn words and good intentions into concrete actions.
I know debt relief was at the top of the African agenda and everything must be done to alleviate poverty, but we must have some evidence that funds saved go towards better health care, better education and an improved standard of living for people and not into arms and war materials.
For these ideas to come to fruition, African countries themselves have to make the effort towards good governance. We have already seen some good election results. Let us hope that we can see the same happening in Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and Togo in the forthcoming elections.
The top priority of regional cooperation and integration should have strong political benefits as well as trade ones. With only 6% of African trade being carried out in Africa there is huge potential for an increase in trade if tariff barriers and trade barriers are removed.
Many of these countries will need both time and financial help to compete in the world market, but these countries must understand there is no other option in this new era of globalisation. This is all unattainable without peace and peace-building; conflict prevention, management and resolution must be top of the African agenda.
The OAU must be given international support to continue its work and the peace initiatives must come from the African countries themselves. Where peace is achieved, help must be given for demobilisation and reintegration, and the use of child soldiers below the age of 18 must be banned.
Ethnic cleansing has been the horror of the last 25 years, and religious wars destroy the very fabric of a country. Peace can bring prosperity. The main thrust of our aim therefore must be better education leading to better health care. Through AIDS and malaria, Africa is losing the very generation it needs to build its future.
This summit was a start but much has to be done to turn words into reality, and we, Members of this House, must be part of that new world."@en1
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