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SPEECH BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA AT THE LAUNCH OF THE COMMONWEALTH AFRICA
INVESTMENT FUND LIMITED

London, 11 July 1996

Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku;
Your
Excellencies;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a very great pleasure to return to Marlborough House and be among my
Commonwealth friends. I am doubly pleased that my visit coincides with the
launching of the Commonwealth Africa Investment Fund - and the birth of a new
acronym, COMAFIN.

The Commonwealth has a proven track record as an instrument for promoting
development cooperation among its diverse membership. That is demonstrated once
again by the manner in which COMAFIN has been created.

From my discussions with the Secretary-General I have no doubt that the
Commonwealth Private Investment initiative, under which the Fund is being
established, will prove an effective instrument for assisting in the
socioeconomic development of the Commonwealth's developing members, including
South Africa.

The significance of this initiative should not be missed. It is an innovative
response to an urgent need. by setting up a fund to facilitate private sector
investment it moves beyond what has until now been the dominant framework of aid
and technical assistance. The new dimension is more than a matter of passing
importance precisely because it addresses the question of sustainable
development among partners each exploiting its comparative advantage to maximum
effect.

South Africa has premised the reconstruction and development of our own
country amongst other things on the potential of the private sector to
contribute to development.

We have been attending to the creation of the necessary institutional and
regulatory instruments for this to occur. Municipal infrastructure and the
Maputo Development Corridor - the first of several such large projects - are
amongst the areas being targeted for such involvement in co-operation with our
neighbours. Like other developing countries, we feel justified in expecting
reciprocal action from those in command of investment resources.

We strongly welcome the launch of COMAFIN as an essential step to drawing the
private sector more effectively into development. It once more underlines the
Commonwealth's potential as a leading force in the birth of a new world order.

Mr. Secretary General;

I wish to assure you on behalf of South Africa, that we are keen to
co-operate with COMAFIN. And I join you in calling on all countries to join
hands and enter the new millennium working together for peace and prosperity!

I thank you.

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