Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ Statement on the “Trade not Aid” Policy

African Opposition to Lugar-Crane sub-Sahara Bill Grows: First President Mandela Calls the Bill “Not Acceptable,” Now Opposition from Zimbabwe

 

As Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, we believe that the shift from aid to trade is an attempt to undermine the development of our economies.

This is particularly so given that this shift is accompanied by conditionalities.

Proponents of the shift from aid to trade make a very grave assumption, that developing countries can trade at par with the developed countries. Aid is still important to help build capacities and diversify the export base of our economies. The issue is that to make aid effective, civil society groups should be involved to ensure transparency and accountability.

Introducing conditionalities will only further weaken our economies and destroy the nascent industrial base that has been created.

– Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on sub-sahara Africa Bill, April 1998