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| Business |
| Private sector urged to help Africa thrive |
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by
Ephraim Munthali, 04 November 2003
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19:22:31
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Economic Planning Minister Bingu Mutharika has urged African businesses to meet regularly and discuss ways of fostering economic growth on the continent.
Mutharika said in Mangochi on Monday at the third African Insurance Organisation (AIO) life conference that such gatherings can help shape policies in favour of businesses and companies.
He explained that this will in turn assist government meet the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) and the United Nations’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG), both of which have earmarked the private sector as a conduit for achieving their goals.
“A consensus is emerging that globalisation is creating an ever increasing interdependence among countries in business, trade, investments and insurance that demands much more than just diplomatic relations among countries. [Therefore], countries need to get together to tackle common problems,” he said.
Mutharika also observed that the HIV/Aids pandemic has, apart from life insurers, put African economies under “immeasurable threat” because the rate of infection is higher among the more active sections of the population most of whom manage economies.
Mutharika said both the government and the private sector have been losing trained and experienced personnel through deaths from Aids, thus depriving the economy of needed professionals and other expertise necessary for economic development.
He asked the insurance industry to help fight the pandemic through intensive civic education, advertising, product branding as well as fast-track training of personnel to replace the ones being lost through the scourge.
“I would like to see the [AIO] find new ways in which the insurance industry can respond to the challenges I have outlined. Government stands ready to support the industry through appropriate legislation and regulatory framework,” said the minister.
In response, organising committee chair Stain Singo said in an interview that dealing with HIV/Aids is one of the topics the conference would discuss in detail because of the impact it has on the insurance business.
The AIO was established in 1972 with the aim of promoting inter-African cooperation and the development of a healthy insurance and reinsurance industry.
The conference, which has attracted more than 100 delegates, has been sponsored and organised by Old Mutual, Nico and Vanguard life insurance companies.
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