Perhaps, the biggest gap between industrialized and developing countries today is the knowledge gap.  The developing world and Africa especially, needs desperately to build up its universities as real centres of excellence, in which African answers to African problems can be worked out.  Of course, that does not mean ignoring the advances made on other continents.  It means studying them thoroughly and finding ways to improve them in an African context.  It means making an African contribution to the world, which other continents in their turn cannot afford to ignore.

It is indeed vital that Africa should play its full part in the world community, and especially in the new global economy -- from which, at present, it is in many ways excluded.  Private capital flows into Africa are a tiny fraction of global flows, and for some countries, outward flows amount to several times their Gross Domestic Product.  Many African countries have to spend more than 25 per cent of their export earnings on servicing their debts.

The result is that, out of 1.2 billion people in the world living on less than $1 per day, 300 million are in Africa -– a higher proportion of the people than in any other continent.  While in other regions average incomes are rising, people in sub-Saharan Africa are almost as poor today as they were 20 years ago. 

The countries that have achieved higher growth are those which have successfully integrated into the global economy, and attracted foreign investment.  Over the last 25 years, Asia has grown at an annual rate of 7 per cent and Latin America, at 5 per cent, while much of Africa has stagnated or even gone backwards. 

How can we change this? 

Firstly, one of the keys, I am sure, is more and better use of information technology.  We must bridge the gap between the fortunate few who are hooked up to the new world economy, and the half of the world’s population that has yet to make or receive a telephone call, let alone use a computer.  At present, less than half of one per cent of all Africans has used the Internet.  If we can change that, we can change everything else. 

It should not be hard to change, since new information technology does not require vast reserves of financial capital.  The main input is brain-power the one commodity that is equally distributed throughout the human race.  A relatively small investment could release that power, enabling the poorest societies to forge ahead, leapfrogging some of the long and painful stages of development that other countries had to go through. 

Already the city of Bangalore, in India, has become a centre of the world software industry, boasting more than 300 high-tech companies.  Already last year, Costa Rica achieved the highest growth rate in Latin America 8.3 per cent -– through its exports of microchips.  Already Mauritius –- an African country -– is using the Internet to position its textile industry globally.  Already women in tiny villages in Bangladesh are using cellular phones, bought with small loans from the Grameen Bank and then rented out to other villagers, to sell their home-produced textiles on the world market.   

Secondly, we have to invest in education. This will release and mobilize the brainpower of the developing world. Good primary education for all has to be our first priority, because every person who is deprived of it loses their chance to develop their potential and play a full part in their society.  Most of those illiterate adults are women, and two thirds of the children not at school are girls.  Clearly, there are still many families, and indeed whole societies, who think it less important to educate their daughters than their sons.

Thirdly, we have to free Africa’s people from the crippling burden of disease, which not only requires families to stretch their meagre resources even further, but locks them into a vicious circle of high mortality, high fertility, and unending poverty. 

Fourthly, we have to overcome the prevalence of conflict in too many parts of Africa.  Nothing is more inimical to growth, and nothing is more likely to spread poverty, than armed conflict. If conflict perpetuates poverty, poverty also makes conflict harder to avoid and to resolve.  That is the vicious circle we Africans have to break. 

In the last resort, however, peace within a state depends on its own citizens. It is only the government and citizens of a country who can protect it from being torn apart in the first place.  Experience and research have shown that, while poor countries are in greater danger than rich ones, poverty alone does not cause conflict.  Even relatively rich countries can be dragged into the abyss by self-serving leaders, who play on the fears and grievances of divided populations. Many poor countries live in peace despite their poverty, thanks to enlightened leadership.  Over time, of course, these countries also have a better chance of overcoming their poverty. 

So my final prescription, for breaking the barriers between Africa and global prosperity, is to improve the quality of governance.  More and more, we realize that this is the decisive factor in any country’s success. 

In a country where those who hold power are not accountable, but can use their power to monopolize wealth, exploit their fellow citizens and repress peaceful dissent, conflict is all too predictable and investment will be scarce.  But in a country where human rights and property rights are protected, where government is accountable, and where those affected by decisions play a part in the decision-making process, there is real hope that poverty can be reduced, conflict avoided, and capital mobilized both at home and from abroad.

Once a country -– or, even better, a whole region -– adopts that approach to its own problems, others can more easily be persuaded to help it –- whether through development assistance, through cancellation of external debts, or through opening their markets to its products.