Introductory Remarks
by CoDA Chairperson CoDA & LPI Policy Forum Lisbon
Excellencies, Good morning. On behalf of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), of which I am the Chairman, I would like to begin by welcoming all you to this policy forum on a most timely theme, which is being co-convened today by CoDA and the joint Land Policy Initiative of the African Union Commission (AUC), UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the African Development Bank (AfDB). We are most pleased that so many of you, all respected experts in your respective fields, have accepted our invitation to join us today, and we sincerely hope you will all remain engaged in a continuing dialogue on this issue in the months ahead, as the consultation process towards reaching a regional consensus on the most optimal way to handle large scale foreign investments in our land resources evolves. The theme of today’s policy forum: “Foreign Direct Investments in Land in Africa: “Risks, Opportunities, Challenges” addresses one of a small number of highly pertinent issues, which my colleagues on the CoDA Board and I, have chosen as priority areas for in-depth discussion and advocacy since the inception of CoDA, a little over two years ago. As you may know, CoDA is an independent, international, African-owned forum that identifies and discusses issues of importance to Africa’s development within a global context. It is also a think tank that advocates for the continent, brings together a range of stakeholders to promote dialogue and provides a platform for African voices to be heard. CoDA’s core mission, as the successor forum to the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA) and Big Table forums, is to promote dialogue, new thinking, and renewed policy action on critical issues relevant to Africa’s development. Although some of the issues we are addressing are new to the continental agenda, many others have without a doubt been of concern to most of us for many, many years. What makes CoDA special and different from other African think tank initiatives, however, is the fact that it is African owned, African led and largely African financed. It is also innovative, as it has at its very heart the forging of a close partnership between a wide cross section of African stakeholders and international “friends of Africa”. CoDA’s operational modality is straight forward. We seek to provide a space for African policy makers, civil societies, media and private sector to hold interactive discussions to reach a consensus on some of the more controversial and intransigent issues confronting the continent. Issues such as today’s, at times highly charged, topic, which has sparked a great deal of media coverage, as well as some outrage and political turmoil in several countries in recent years. Once agreement is reached on the best way forward by some of our brightest thinkers and activists, CoDA then seeks to advocate and lobby for policy action by bringing these new ideas and concrete recommendations to the attention of African leaders and policy makers, who have the power to push for the necessary change. That is exactly what we, in collaboration with the Land Policy Initiative, plan to do with the outcomes and recommendations of this discussion today.
Although CoDA does not have any power to compel policy change, we do believe that our new initiative can gain respect through its independence to tackle controversial topics and its willingness to speak openly with courage. Since our launch in Addis Ababa in 2009, we have convened a multistakeholder dialogue forum in Tunis on “Africa’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis”, organized a Seminar, in Abuja, in collaboration with ECOWAS, on Transnational Trafficking and Political Instability in Africa, undertaken independent reviews of the APRM process and key findings, engaged with the African Development Forum and the new African Climate Policy Centre in Addis Ababa on the discussion of Climate Change issues prior to the Cancun summit. We have also been investigating what is now needed to significantly advance the regional integration agenda in Africa. In this context, we convened a policy forum on “Financing Regional Integration in Africa” last year on Africa Day, the 25th May, as a side event of the 2010 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Abidjan. In follow-up to that forum, the CoDA Board, in consultation with the AUC, AfDB, ECA and various experts and interested individuals have been discussing and exploring ways CoDA could help to advance the agenda through among other things, investigating how the financing of regional integration could, and should, be up-scaled, in particular, through the use of innovative and wide-ranging modalities. Our interest in all of the issues I have just mentioned will continue for the foreseeable future and we plan to deepen and push the agenda in all of them with different partners. In that context, I am sure that your discussion here in Lisbon today, which is but one element of a wider regional consultation process launched this year by the African Land Policy Initiative, with the support of CoDA, to encourage informed discussion on the subject of land investments in Africa, will play a useful role in the formation of a consensus on appropriate policy action on this issue. I wish you fruitful deliberations. Thank you for your attention.
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