"Transparency, Good Governance at the African End of China's Silk Road—Challenges and Opportunities," PowerPoint of Presentation at the Conference: Belt and Road Initiative in Africa: Addressing the Issues of Debt, Dispute Resolution, and Transparency

 

I have written about the excellent conference, Belt and Road Initiative in Africa: Addressing the Issues of Debt, Dispute Resolution, and Transparency An online conference | 23-25 February 2021, sponsored by  the Centre for Comparative and Public Law, the University of Hong Kong Law Faculty, and the University of Victoria Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives. 

I participated in the Panel on Transparency and Good Governance. Our task for this panel was to "highlight the crucial importance of entrenching and upholding globally acceptable business ethical standards in the implementation of the (BRI) in Africa for shared prosperity. Relying on international and transnational legal and quasi-legal frameworks, discussants may talk about effective approaches to tackle potential opacity and poor governance in the BRI in Africa."

The PowerPoint of my contribution to this effort, "Transparency, Good Governance at the African End of China's Silk Road—Challenges and Opportunities," follows below along with the panel concept note and participants, who together produced a marvelous discussion around the panel themes. Happy to continue the conversation offline.

The PowerPoint that follows may also be downloaded PowerPoint HERE: Backer_BRI-Africa_Transparency-Governance2-2021

Day 2

Canada (PT)	Hong Kong
24 Feb	25 Feb
5:30pm	9:30am	Panel 2: Transparency and Good Governance Prof. Muna Ndulo, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International & Comparative Law, Cornell University Law School (Moderator) Prof. Larry C. Backer, W. Richard and Mary Eshelman Faculty Scholar, The Pennsylvania State University Law School Bady Baldé, Deputy Executive and Africa Director, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Norway Prof. Yves Tiberghien, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia & Distinguished Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada Ngozi S. Nwoko, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Canada
7:00pm	11:00am	End

Panel on Transparency and Good Governance

An army of empirical research has shown that deep-seated and structural opacity is at the root of poor governance in many African states. The popularity and wide acceptance of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in many jurisdictions of weak governance in Africa heighten the economic risks and potential benefits of the initiative to both the investor-state, host states, and local populations. China is concerned that the implementation of the BRI might be a recipe for bribery and corruption. During the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, President Xi Jinping called for the strengthening of international counter-corruption cooperation to infuse the BRI with high ethical standards.

The objective of this panel is to highlight the crucial importance of entrenching and upholding globally acceptable business ethical standards in the implementation of the (BRI) in Africa for shared prosperity. Relying on international and transnational legal and quasi-legal frameworks, discussants may talk about effective approaches to tackle potential opacity and poor governance in the BRI in Africa. Are there embedded relations of power that might threaten transparency and good governance in the BRI? In light of China’s avowed laissez-faire approach to foreign investment in Africa, are there governance roles for subaltern groups such as non-governmental organizations and local communities that will enhance the potential benefits, legitimacy, and goodwill of the BRI in Africa? Are there information dissemination vectors and mechanisms that could activate legitimate public scrutiny of the BRI and effectively strengthen transparency and good governance?