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GROWTH
AND DIVERSIFICATION
IN MINERAL ECONOMIES
Regional workshop for mineral economies in Africa
Cape
Town, South Africa, 7 to 9 November 2000
Background
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Summary
Background
(Francais)
For many countries in Africa, particularly the least developed,
mining, usually based on foreign investment, offers a way to increase
export incomes and government revenues, thereby mobilizing the resources
necessary for economic and social development and laying the foundations
of a more diversified industrial structure. The increasing share of world
wide exploration and investment expenditure directed towards several
African countries in recent years demonstrates that efforts to promote
mining investment are likely to meet with success within a relatively
short time period from the initiation of policy changes. Other countries
that have no or modest mining activity at present, but which are
considered to have geological potential, are considering the introduction
of policies and institutions, particularly in the areas of taxation and
regulation, that serve to attract investment and to maximize the
contribution to the economy from mining.
While
large-scale mineral production is still a relatively new phenomenon in
some African countries, others can be considered to be mature mining
economies and are facing important policy issues that are related to the
importance of the mining sector, including macro-economic instability,
insufficient competitiveness in agriculture and manufacturing, uneven
income distributions, and inequalities between regions. In these
countries, there is often a need to develop policies that address the lack
of horizontal and vertical diversification and aim at maximizing the
contribution of mining to their economies. A particular concern is the
need to ensure sustainability of economic development in areas that depend
on mining once mineral deposits are exhausted.
It
is against the background of these issues and to address the problems
facing African countries in both groups that UNCTAD is organizing a
workshop on growth and diversification in mineral economies in Cape Town
from 7 to 9 November 2000. The workshop is organized as part of an UNCTAD
project on diversification and commodity based development, which is
funded by the United Nations development account. It is one of several
regional and sub-regional workshops planned under the project.
For
more information about the workshop, contact Olle Ostensson,
e-mail olle.ostensson@unctad.org.
Background
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Summary
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