ABSTRACT
In view of the indispensable need to reengineer Africa-EU partnership for industrialisation, this chapter summarises the implications of such a shift in the modalities of co-operation for the management of the development agenda. It underscores the fact that the realities under which the development agenda will be managed will be new, and therefore necessitating the refocusing of the agenda itself. Imperatively, while focusing on industrialisation, the new agenda would have to be broadened (to comprehensively address the various capacity needs of the African countries). Moreover, it would be essential for African countries to adopt development models that actively promote co-operation between markets and states, and to broaden their international partnerships for development by reaching out to other partners (e.g. China, India, Brazil, South Korea, etc.). Equally important, there is a need to redefine the roles and relations in partnerships for development. African countries must strive to have sovereignty over their development agenda – and hence decouple the prototypical donor-driven agendas that have characterised the relationships between African modern nation states since their establishment, and their foreign and international partners. To achieve industrialisation and real development, a change of the mindset, from the triad doctrine, in which Africa is just a periphery serving the interests of the centre, is timely and long overdue. The changed power structure in the international economic landscape offers the African countries a rare opportunity to make this happen. Finally, there is need to redefine the practices for managing the development agenda. Political and corporate leadership must be more responsible, while systems for monitoring and evaluation of the delivery of the development agenda must be developed, introduced, and seriously adhered to. Thus, in order to assist its industrialisation endeavours, every African country needs a national Integrated Industrial Development Agenda (IIDA) embedded in the framework proposed in this book. The following sections provide the details about these contemplations.
