VZCZCXRO1685
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHDR #0175/01 0761401
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171401Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8346
INFO RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 2845
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 3366
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 1293
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1205
RUEHDS/USMISSION USAU ADDIS ABABA
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAR ES SALAAM 000175 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E JLIDDLE; INR/RAA FOR FEHRENREICH; AF/EPS 
STATE PASS USAID, USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECIN ECON EFIN EIND TZ
SUBJECT: IMF-AFRICA MEETING IN TANZANIA ADDRESSES GLOBAL FINANCIAL 
CRISIS 
 
DAR ES SAL 00000175  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Summary.  Tanzania and the IMF jointly hosted a March 10-11 
conference focused on minimizing the effects of the global economic 
crisis in Africa to preserve recent hard-won economic and political 
gains.  Panelists included President Kikwete, IMF Managing Director 
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and Kofi Annan, among others.  UN Deputy 
Secretary-General (and former Tanzanian FM) Asha-Rose Migiro 
delivered one of the key speeches.  Senior officials from more than 
50 countries, mostly African, and 20 regional and multilateral 
organizations attended, along with numerous NGOs, academics, and 
activists.  Key messages from the conference included calls for 
developed countries to meet their commitments to Africa and for a 
greater African voice in plans to confront the global crisis.  End 
summary. 
¶2. Numerous speakers called on the international donor community to 
deliver on previous aid promises, such as those made at the 2005 
Gleneagles G8 Summit, in order to protect the important economic 
gains made in Africa over the last decade.  UN DSyG Migiro said that 
the promise to double aid to Africa - amounting to some $62 billion 
in nominal terms - seems attainable when compared to the trillions 
of dollars that have been committed to stimulus packages in the 
developed world.  President Kikwete urged developed countries to 
consider a stimulus package for Africa noting that Tanzania is 
witnessing a precipitous decline in prices of export commodities - 
the price of cotton was down nearly 50 percent from a year ago, 
while the price of Arabica coffee had fallen 34 percent since the 
end of 2008.  Kikwete also noted that foreign investors are delaying 
or cancelling projects; he cited Tanzanian examples of a proposed 
USD 3.5 billion investment in aluminum smelting and a proposed USD 
165 million nickel mining and extraction project, both of which had 
been postponed.  (Note: Planning for the aluminum smelter was in its 
very early stages.) 
 
¶3. A second theme was the need for increased African representation 
at the IMF and within the global economic dialogue in general. 
President Kikwete called on the IMF to assist African countries in 
making their voices heard in G8 and G20 meetings.  He also supported 
a statement - read at the meeting by Ivory Coast Minister of Economy 
and Finance Charles Diby - that one deputy IMF Managing Director be 
from Africa.  Dr. Migiro pointed out that the timing of the meeting 
was fortuitous since the G20 are due to meet in London in April. 
Activist Bob Geldof got an approving laugh from the audience when he 
advised President Kikwete that African leaders should avoid 
international meetings if they could not make their voices heard. 
 
¶4. Discussants also highlighted the role of developed countries in 
precipitating the global financial crisis and suggested increased 
international oversight.  Businessman and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim 
was quoted in a local paper saying, "What has happened is a failure 
of governance in the developed countries, the same people who have 
been preaching governance to Africa."  In his address, President 
Kikwete declared, "There should be no untouchable countries when it 
comes to financial impropriety and lack of effective regulatory 
framework because its consequences affect all of us." 
 
¶5. Finally, panelists stressed that the impact of the global 
downturn would be particularly severe in Africa. IMF Managing 
Director Dominique Strauss-Khan referenced a World Bank estimate 
that more than 50 million people in Lower Income Countries, the 
majority of whom live in Africa, could be "thrown back into absolute 
poverty - with obvious consequences for other social ills, like 
sickness and infant mortality."  He noted the threat of civil unrest 
and even war.  World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 
stated that the crisis, "could not have come at a worse time for 
Africa," referencing the recent gains that she feared will now "come 
to a grinding halt." 
 
¶6. The result of the meeting, a Joint Declaration by African 
countries and the IMF, underlined the following six "building 
blocks" of enhanced partnership between Africa and the IMF: 
-- enhancing IMF surveillance over the policies of all its members, 
in a spirit of evenhandedness; 
-- expanding the IMF's financing facilities and their accessibility 
to low income countries; 
-- consolidating the debt relief process by adjusting the IMF's debt 
sustainability framework to accommodate Africa's new financing needs 
and opportunities; 
-- accelerating reforms of IMF governance to enhance Africa's voice 
and representation at all levels of the institution; 
-- enhancing the policy dialogue between the IMF and its African 
members, including through technical assistance, to ensure that 
African countries' policies benefit from the IMF's experience and 
 
DAR ES SAL 00000175  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
expertise; 
-- and reinforcing the IMF's catalytic role to leverage public and 
private financing for Africa's critical infrastructure needs. 
 
¶7. The Tanzanian Government recently announced the formation of a 
Task Force to develop a national plan to address the impact of the 
global crisis on Tanzania.  However, neither the members of the Task 
Force nor its agenda have yet been made public. 
 
 
ANDRE