Don't Shut The Door On Africa

Experts are unanimous: the financial, food and energy crisis will hammer the "bottom billion" - the poorest in some 60 countries that survive on around a dollar a day - the hardest. Because of the crisis, many African countries are likely to miss the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goal of poverty reduction.

The continent has made some significant socio-economic gains over the last decade. I've seen this for myself during recent travels to Benin, Ghana, Ethiopia, Egypt, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa. These gains include, to name a few: free-market reforms, liberalisation of economies, the steady introduction of pro-business environments, empowerment of women, education. But most of these gains are now seriously threatened.