ECA Workshop Adopts Natural Resources Cluster Development

By Yinka Adeyemi, 18 May 2006

A workshop aimed at disseminating the findings of ECA’s landmark cluster study of South Africa and Mozambique, has ended in Maputo with broad recommendations on a better and integrated understanding of the mineral resources sector and what it takes to maximize its linkages with local economies and improve its legacy beyond the currency of mining.

The workshop on “Integrated Resources Planning: Fostering Minerals Clusters”, was organized by ECA in collaboration with UNCTAD, CEPMLP, SEAMIC, MINTEK and the government of Mozambique. It was attended by 85 participants including high-level policy makers from Ministries of Mines, Finance and Planning of 16 African countries.

The workshop was premised on the realization that government policies and institutions were critical to realizing the potential of mineral resources in Africa, and that institutional and capacity gaps still exist in many African countries to manage the sector to foster growth and development of the continent.

The workshop also provided the tools for minerals policy design and implementation, and enhance participants’ knowledge and capacity on mineral-related subjects.

A presentation on the NEPAD new Spatial Development Initiative (SDI) was made at the workshop. To upscale the delivery of infrastructure services in Africa, the SDI approach is anchored on the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources endowments, in particular minerals.

Because of the high rents these resources generate, the economic/business rationale for infrastructure projects is boosted. In addition, using the clustering process, the SDI approach can create a pipeline (the corridor principle) of other credible and sound projects in an integrated manner to maximize linkages between the anchor project and the local economy; promote value addition and local beneficiation of raw materials; and foster the development of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) that could enter the inputs, goods and services market.

The new SDI approach will be presented for approval of the NEPAD Heads of State in May 2006 in Dakar, Senegal.

The Maputo workshop and the pilot study on the minerals clusters of South Africa and Mozambique were implemented in response to the recommendations of the second meeting of ECA’s Committee on Natural Resources and Science and Technology (CNRST) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 30 October to 1 November 2001.

CNRST noted that in certain sectors, Africa possesses a comparative advantage in its natural resources capital. Such capital includes its flora, fauna, mineral, energy and water resources. The Committee noted that those resources could be used as a platform for developing clusters of competitive industries and recommended that such clusters be identified at national and sub-regional levels, using successful models from Africa (e.g. South Africa) and other countries (e.g. Nordic countries) as examples. It also recommended the development of strategic and action plans, with milestones, to promote cluster development in Africa.

In 2004/2005 and in response to the CNRST call, ECA conducted a pilot study on the minerals clusters of South Africa and Mozambique to reveal the extent of the clustering process in the two countries and the type of spin-offs that have arisen The study also revealed the role that the different actors, in particular, the government played to facilitate and nurture cluster development.

:: Spatial Clustering [SDIs]: “Strategic Alignment of Infrastructure and Economic Activity”