africa: Africa seeks fair trade, flexibility in debt relief

Africa is facing up to its problems and getting on with reform - but if development targets are to be met and poverty reduced, the continent needs fair trade and more flexibility in debt relief. That was the message from Sub-Saharan governments at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Dubai this week. Finance ministers from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria and Zambia warned that failure to open up wider trade opportunities or to mobilise sufficient financial resources would jeopardise hopes of raising living standards and providing better public services.