SA business should exert leadership role for private sector in Africa

Johannesburg, South Africa, 11 May 1999 - The chief executive of the world’s leading business organization today called on South African business to exert leadership in increasing private sector participation in its work throughout Africa.

Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, said ICC needed a strong business presence in all regions, and was making a special effort to raise its profile in Africa this year.

In an address prepared for delivery to members of ICC South Africa, Mrs Cattaui said: "South Africa has a well-established and experienced national committee, one that is used to coping with radical political change… South African business is well placed to exert leadership for the private sector on the African continent."

ICC has members in 137 countries, and national committees in the world’s leading trading nations as well as many developing countries. The Secretary General said a strong regional presence was important so that ICC could strengthen its credentials as the advocate of world business and thus exert maximum influence on governments on behalf of the private sector.

She addressed the South African national committee one week before an ICC delegation was due to call on German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder as host of next month’s summit of the world’s leading industrial nations. The ICC leaders will pre sent world business views on global economic and trade policy to the summit governments.

The ICC will urge the G7/G8 to back efforts in the World Trade Organization to reduce barriers to agricultural trade. The business leaders will argue that these restrictions are particularly damaging to the export capability of developing countries.

In her speech in Johannesburg, the Secretary General said ICC paid particular attention to the needs of business in developing countries and cited as an example the organization’s support for a multilateral agreement on foreign direct investment. "If ever there was a piece of international legislation that is in the interests of the developing world, it is a comprehensive and uniform agreement to govern foreign direct investment," Mrs Cattaui said.

She contended that when developing countries negotiated on their own they often lacked the political and economic power to win favourable terms for themselves. "How much better off they would be if their relations with foreign investors were governed by an overarching multilateral agreement that includes a binding dispute settlement procedure."

Mrs Cattaui announced that ICC, in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was carrying out a poll to determine the intentions of international companies for direct investment in Africa.

In addition, and also in partnership with UNCTAD, ICC was working on investment guides to five African countries – Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda. Under the programme, the two organizations were providing assistance to investment promotion agencies and government officials responsible for investment policy, Mrs Cattaui said.

Business in Africa