DAKAR, Senegal: Good governance and stability are important factors in changing the economy, thus leading a country to progress.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this in a video clip aired at the opening of the Third International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA-III) on Thursday.
Dr Mahathir highlighted these two factors based on his experience governing and developing Malaysia from a developing nation to a middle-income nation.
“The most important thing in trying to change the economy of a country is stability as well as good governance. Once that is in place, the rest will follow suit,” he said, thanking the organisers of the conference for inviting him to participate.
The three-day ICEA-III, themed “Emergence, Private Sector and Inclusiveness”, is being held at the Abdou Diouf International Convention Centre in Diamniadio, Senegal’s new administrative centre.
The conference was opened by Senegal President Macky Sall and is being attended by more than 1,000 people, international agencies and several heads of state and government from Africa.
The prime minister is the only leader from outside Africa who has been invited by the Senegalese government to share his experience and ideas on developing nations at the conference.
Meanwhile, in his opening speech, Sall thanked Dr Mahathir for agreeing to participate in the conference.
“We truly appreciate and are ready to listen to your experience and views as Malaysia’s Father of Development,” he said.
Dr Mahathir was also part of a high-level dialogue session following the opening, alongside Sall, Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Ivory Coast Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
At the session, he said Malaysia was lucky to achieve independence through negotiation and not through bloodshed, and this had allowed the nation’s leaders to start developing almost right from the start.
Dr Mahathir said the leaders had first, however, to introduce policies which could win over the hearts and minds of the people.
“Because of this, Malaysia continued to be peaceful and stable, allowing the nation to develop quickly and keep on developing,” he said.
The prime minister said, even though Malaysia at the time did not have the expertise nor the technology to develop, it was not a problem as the government encouraged foreign investment.
He said, through foreign direct investment, such expertise and technology was brought in to Malaysia, allowing it to develop and industrialise.
As such, Dr Mahathir said he was confident that African nations could also emerge as developed nations, even if they did not have the expertise and technology at present.
“There is no problem if you do not have the technical expertise, as you can bring in foreign investment. This will benefit your countries,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also touched on the principles of democracy a nation needed to hold in order to develop.
He said, in this context, a government needs to respect the results of ballots cast by its people when an election is held.
The prime minister said if a government loses the mandate of the people, then it needed to ensure that power is handed over to the new government smoothly to allow the latter to more effectively govern and administer the nation.
He said a smooth transition of power would ensure that the country remains stable and economic development is not affected. -- Bernama