Myles Wickstead, head of the Secretariat for the Commission for Africa, travelled to the Netherlands to foster further support for the Commission for Africa initiative.

The ex British Ambassador to Ethiopia spoke to the Minister Ardenne from Development Co-operation, the Permanent Commission for Foreign Affairs from the Parliament, representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Economic Affairs and with various development organisations. In the evening he flew to Portugal for more talks.

Mr Wickstead emphasised that the time is now ripe to bring about change in Africa. ‘In the last year we have seen concrete signs of change and progress in Africa. Security has improved and governments are doing more work to battle poverty. We must engage. This year Britain has a unique opportunity to create a broad support for the document because this year they have the presidency of both the EU and the G8 summit. If we want to act, we must do it now.

‘Every country must develop their own strategy. Indeed there isn’t a blueprint that every country should follow. We want to have room for each country to follow their own politics. For one country it is important to develop a strong economy whilst another has to put more emphasis on fighting corruption. We can’t go into detail about what must happen in each country.'

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