Re: What does Africa need?

Description: Africans are tired of being seen as beggars.

Transcript:

If as Africans . . . If as a generation of Africans we’re able to make African countries globally competitive economy and also build regional integration ________, A.U., the United States of Africa . . . if we can make Africa as a continent economically successful, then that’s the legacy we seek as a generation. Our legacy is around the economy. Our mandate is an economic mandate. That’s the legacy that we seek. We are sick and tired as Africans of being beggars. We’re sick and tired of these cycles of poverty and conflict. We want Africa to be a successful continent. We don’t seek charity. We don’t seek aid from anyone. We want economic development, we want investment so that Africans can be successful through economic development, through investment. We’re saying as Africans we want to be in charge of our natural resources. We want to make sure that we are producing refined products so that we’re selling cars. We’re selling computers to Europe, to America. We want to sell cars to Detroit and not _______ from Africa. So our legacy should be a legacy that makes Africa economically successful through value added manufacturing, through beneficiation, through the use of new technologies – wireless power, wireless telecoms, WIFI, WIMAX – through biotechnology, through clean energy. We have a unique opportunity actually to use _______ and cleaner technologies than the rest . . . than advanced countries. We have a unique opportunity to run where others walked. So that’s the legacy we seek – a revolution in economy; a revolution driven by science and technology in Africa so that Africans can become global players that are respected because of connectivity; that are respected because of output. We seek to become competitors to America, competitors to Japan, and competitors to Europe, and not second class citizens _______ globalization. That’s our legacy. Recorded On: 7/5/07