As 2015 approaches, the results of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are being analysed. But many are already looking further, beyond the magic date of 2015.

Just over a week ago, the Pan-African Parliament hosted an African thematic consultation on Governance and the post-2015 Development Agenda in South Africa. It was a lively African driven debate, highlighting key African concerns and expectations for a new and more inclusive and sustainable global development framework.

Clearly, the African continent does not any longer want to undergo agendas that are designed elsewhere. Many Africans seem to be committed more than ever to reduce aid dependency and to build alliances for change with all types of new partners on their own terms.

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Every year approximately 850-1000 billion US dollars escape developing countries as illicit financial flows, with a large proportion ending up in tax havens or rich countries.

If these funds were taxed in the source countries, they would provide these developing country governments much greater revenues than the total official global development assistance (ODA).

Tax evasion and aggressive tax planning are global issues that affect rich EU and OECD countries as well as developing countries negatively. This calls for global solutions.

If the Nordic countries join forces in tackling tax havens and tax avoidance they have the potential to be true global leaders in this area. And we definitely need a group of countries to push hard on the agenda if we aim to succeed.

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The ‘African Renaissance’ was launched in the late 1990s with a plethora of new initiatives to promote popular participation and good governance, peace and security, economic growth and to reposition Africa in a globalized world.

Previously absent governance initiatives, institutions and accompanying instruments have since been established and provide the basis for the promotion of common governance norms.

The aims of the ‘African Renaissance’ have not nearly been achieved. There is now a need to redefine the way forward. A revised agenda will need to build on the achievements of the first ‘version’.

An African Renaissance 2.0 will need to focus on five key areas summarized here as IDEALS. That is the challenge for the extraordinary African Union summit planned for May 2013.

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Through successful growth and development, a number of economies have been transformed to ‘advanced’ countries. These countries may offer lessons for development to poorer countries.

The derived lessons may, in certain cases, actually be more reliable than those based on countries still undergoing active development, several of which are yet to evince inter-temporal robustness.

A research project on this theme was organized in three country groupings: The Nordics, Other Advanced Countries, and Transition Economies. The findings are summarized in this article.

Although development strategies are country-specific, the historical accounts may prove useful as guides for certain developing countries with the proximate conditions.

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‘Green Growth’ implies that development objectives such as job creation, economic prosperity and poverty reduction, can be easily reconciled with environmental sustainability.

But Green Growth policies may encourage countries to redesign national strategies away from natural comparative advantages and past investments.

In Southern Africa, development strategies involve inorganic fertilizers, biofuels, and coal-based energy. Countries are pursuing environmentally suboptimal strategies while addressing critical development needs, including food security, fuel, and electricity.

Anti-reform coalitions often have interests in conflict with a Green Growth approach, which would be economically costly and generate substantial domestic resistance, especially amongst the poor.

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Foreign investors in Africa have bought or leased an area twice the size of France, and this is likely to accelerate in the next few years. Many leasing contracts are fixed for 99 years. Thus, huge African arable areas cannot be used by the local population for generations to come.

Land investments lead both to decreasing space for people to produce their own food, and to increasing food prices, since the total amount of food produced decreases.

Africa needs its own resources of land, water and energy. The people living on the continent pay dearly for the wellbeing of other people. Should Africa in addition abandon parts of its own food production for the benefit of the increased energy consumption of the global rich?

The ongoing land grabbing in Africa may be compared to colonialism and Europe’s exploitation of the continent’s natural resources. It is now done in a more refined manner, but the consequences for people in Africa are largely the same.

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Resolving Somalia’s protracted conflict is one of the most vexing peace- and nation-building tasks on the planet. But it is not impossible.

More than 14 international attempts have been made over the past 20 years. All of them failed, due in large part to the international community’s short-term approaches, and the absence of a comprehensive, long-term settlement strategy.

The United Kingdom together with its international partners appear to be recycling another quick-fix solution. They must recognize that Somalia for 20 years has been an extraordinary case of short-sighted politics led by nefarious interests. Such parochial short-gain tactical approaches must come to an end.

If the London conference fails, then the international community will keep underwriting Somali’s problem for another decade. The ultimate goal for this conference should be a self-governed and self-sufficient Somalia. With the complexity and urgency of Somalia’s plight in mind, such efforts should not be the sole responsibility of London and its allies. Somalis should be allowed to own the process.

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Financing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remains a major challenge. It is becoming clear that Official Development Assistance from donor countries will not be sufficient to fill the existing finance gap.

A new OECD report bring the topics of MDGs and domestic resource mobilisation together, reminding us that underlying many of the problems faced in developing countries is the need for more effective states and improved tax systems. However, it may oversimplify the complexity of raising additional resources through taxation.

The institutional implications of tax policy and tax policy reform are fundamental for determining how successful a country is in raising revenues. How the revenues are collected, the institutional relations around tax policy design and its implementation can impact on growth through its influence on private sector behaviour. These are by no means simple issues to resolve.

The relation between taxation and the financing of the MDGs really needs to take account of where tax revenues actually come from and how they are collected. Another major factor to take into consideration is the loss of revenues due to the huge illicit capital flight.

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The recent High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea ended with an agreement on a new “Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation”. In sum, the outcome document is comprehensive but is lacking in concrete targets.

A key outcome was the coming together of traditional donors, so called emerging donors and countries engaged in South-South cooperation, partner countries, civil society and private sector stakeholders. Busan was to a large extent a reflection of shifting geopolitical realities and of the increasing role played by the BRICS in international development cooperation.

A second significant achievement was the broadening of the agenda moving beyond aid to development effectiveness, including references to issues like illicit capital flight, climate financing and private flows.

However, the Busan outcome document is weak, lacking in concrete, time-bound and measurable commitments. Donors failed to respond to some of the key demands of partner countries, including the untying of all aid by 2013. It remains to be seen what difference Busan will make for the world’s poor.

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The global struggle for raw materials is increasing. Africa has an abundance of natural resources, but African countries are trapped as exporters of raw materials and have not reaped the benefits. In its quest to secure access to raw materials to fuel the European industry, the EU’s policies are threatening to undermine industrialization and development in Africa.

Many resource-rich African countries are, paradoxically, among the poorest in the world. Their resource wealth has the potential to transform their economies, but these nations and their people have not been able to reap the benefits of the lucrative extraction of their resources.

Sweden, together with Denmark and Finland, can work to change the EU’s raw materials policies towards promoting rather than blocking development and industrialization in Africa. The EU must recognize the right of African countries to develop industrial policies based on development objectives, instead of pushing their own agenda in the trade negotiations.

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