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A
Parliamentary Delegation comprising Mr Bashir Khanbhai MEP (UK), Mrs
Margie Sudre MEP (France) and Mrs Brigitte Langenhagen MEP (Germany) paid
a visit to Mauritania on 6-10 April 2001. The purpose of their visit was
to identify how the EU can help small and medium sized businesses in
Mauritania to exploit natural resources to give maximum value added for
products to be sold in the domestic and export markets.
Mauritania
occupies an important strategic position in West Africa, straddled between
Morocco and Algeria to the North and Senegal and Mali to the South, thus
forming a bridge between the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa. Caught
between the two geo-political blocks, it is now looking towards the North,
and increasing cooperation between the European Union and Northern African
countries. However, Mauritania's recent withdrawal from ECOWAS (Economic
Community of West African States) will have negative repercussions on
access to financing under the Cotonou agreement.
Although
the country has a better economic record than some of its poorer
neighbours, 51% of its population live below the poverty line and a
considerable number of these people in rural areas and the unemployed in
city suburbs live in abject poverty. Mauritania's external debt totals
214% of its GDP. Any small economic success is squeezed out of the country
as the government struggles to pay off fractions of its debt. Indeed,
income per capita is less than the debt rate per capita. Life expectancy
is still a good twenty five years less than that in rich countries due to
widespread malaria, TB and AIDS.
The
European Community has played an important role in helping Mauritania in
recent years. Since 1985, the country has benefited from over 335 million
euros of development aid, amounting to approximately 53 million euros per
year. The most recent ACP-EU agreement signed in Cotonou for the period
2000-2020 focuses on ...
But
Mauritania needs more than a packet of financial support if it is to find
a way out of the spiral of poverty. Indeed, huge amounts of European
taxpayers money risk shrivelling up in the desert sun unless the
structures are in place to ensure the money is well spent, the projects
are followed up and the real beneficiaries are the Mauritanian people.
Mauritania
has two main industrial strengths: the fishing industry and iron ore. The
fishing industry provides 47.5% of the country's export revenue and
operates in the framework of an agreement which is the largest fishing
agreement signed by the European Community with a third country. This has
helped tremendously, but fundamental problems remain. Mauritania is not
the main beneficiary of most of its products, since value added is given
to the middlemen who process and package the raw material from Mauritania.
Also, very importantly, the country lacks an adequate fleet of fishing
vessels, especially in Nouakchott, a main port. Here the EU could help out
by transferring unused vessels that may otherwise be destroyed to
Mauritania.
Small
and medium businesses have been the motor for growth in Western Europe for
centuries and can do the same for Africa. Our delegation was honoured to
visit a dairy farmer who makes ingenious and delicious products from camel
milk ...
As
a result of our trip, I am working on a number of projects intended to aid
the development of Mauritanian business and industry and also improve
basic social structures to support growth. There are so many areas in
which help is badly needed. On the social side, I shall be focusing on
education for children and young adults by establishing a radio for
schools programme that will reach even the most far flung areas. I am also
responsible for the Parliament Report on accelerated action for
communicable diseases, which highlights the need to set up a global fund
to tackle the scourge of the three main killer diseases in Africa - AIDS,
Malaria and TB - and also put into place the underlying infrastructure
that is essential if these diseases are to be impacted upon. These three
communicable diseases not only represent a colossal social problem, but
also a major obstacle to economic growth and stability in the region.
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