Regional Harmonization: Case Studies from Africa

Antonio Pedro of the United Nations Economic Initiative for Africa profiles mineral policy evolution in Africa as a framework for regional harmonization. Some of the factors that have influenced the African extractive sector include the nationalization of the industry in most countries on the content in the 1960s and 1970s in order to improve its contribution to post-colonial countries. Due to changes in commodity prices in the 1980s, some of these companies went bankrupt. Overall, the criticism is levied that in most jurisdictions, state mining companies were badly managed, and reform supported the privatization of these companies. Mining protocols (with both mandates and voluntary adherence) were also developed by various groups, such as the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community of West African States. The current vision was formulated in 2009 in the context of the commodity supercycle, and is characterized here as "aspirational" in the use of natural resources for promoting structural economic transformation. This vision is detailed and contextualized both nationally and internationally as regional harmonization and as an example of global the repositioning of mining.

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