UK and Africa: Delivering prosperity together
Minister for Africa Henry Bellingham has delivered a keynote speech emphasising the UK's desire to build an economic partnership with Africa.
The speech, which took place on 16 December 2010, follows a series of visits to Africa by Mr Bellingham, the most recent of which was to Luanda, Angola.
UK and Africa: Delivering prosperity together
During the speech Mr Bellingham underlined the UK’s commitment to developing economic partnerships which deliver long term prosperity for Africa and the UK:
The Minister said:
“We want to support African countries to seize the opportunities before them and are injecting new energy into partnerships to build growth.”
Mr Bellingham also emphasised that the need for growth must be underpinned by good governance, stability and respect for human rights:
“Instability and conflict, poor governance and corruption, abuses of human rights and poverty, the impact of climate change. These are obstacles that cannot be sidestepped, but must be overcome. If not, millions of Africans will continue to suffer terrible hardship as a consequence. This government will work with African partners to address these challenges .”