Meles said comparative studies of Africa's development and that of a number of Asian countries have shown that the neo-liberal paradigm cannot bring about economic transformation or sustained and accelerated growth.
Meles was speaking here on Monday at the opening of the 4th Joint AU/ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development .
The Premier said the primary objective of a developmental state would be to bring about radical transformation of the political economy of a country such that value creation through producing globally competitive products and services becomes the only dominant path to wealth accumulation.
He said this task is done through both removing all bottlenecks to production activities, including by providing comprehensive support to such actors and by systematically eliminating the sources of unproductive rent-seeking activities.
Meles said the present meeting should enable to explore the possibilities of a new development paradigm centered on the establishment of developmental states.
Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Jean Ping on the occasion said Africa registered 5.7 per cent economic growth in 2010 budget year.
Dr. Ping said structural change is significant to make sustainable the economic growth and also curb basic development problems of the African people.
Therefore, Africans are expected to implement new alternative development principle, he said.
UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Abdoulie Janneh on his part stressed the need for African states to play significant role in the efforts to speed up development.
The theme of the conference entitled "Governing Development in Africa" indicates that states are expected to play significant role towards the same goal, he said.
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