.

"For the very first time Africa is keen to invest in itself and governments have put $37 billion annually on the table. The private sector will supply a further $30 billion. That leaves us a gap of $43 billion which should come from donors," he said.

Mucavele, a senior economic adviser to Mozambique President Armando Guebuza, last month took over the leadership of NEPAD -- Africa's homegrown economic recovery plan that pledges better governance in return for increased donor cash.

The Group of Eight most industrialised countries (G8) agreed a $40 billion debt relief package for developing countries in June and have also said they would make more money available to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis -- huge problems in Africa.

PROVIDE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION

G8 leaders and multilateral lenders are reviewing the NEPAD growth strategy, designed to ensure Africa makes progress in providing universal primary schooling, cuts mother and child mortality and reverses the spread of HIV and AIDS.

G8 efforts were complemented by NEPAD's own push for macroeconomic convergence on the continent -- to harmonise policy to make Africa more predictable for investment.

NEPAD's campaign targeted taxation -- a vexing subject for investors who complain about being taxed in two places -- along with the varying import and export taxes and tariffs in each of Africa's 53 countries, which they said made planning cumbersome.

Mucavele said a NEPAD project to improve the quality of governance known as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was on course. Some 26 countries had requested to be reviewed and evaluators were looking at South Africa and Kenya after the completion of the first reports on Rwanda and Ghana.

APRM was candid and had won top marks from international and African watchers, Mucavele said, pointing to Kenya where a self assessment showed last week that most Kenyans were dissatisfied with their elected leaders and saw graft as a serious problem.

"That shows that we have to acknowledge our problems and find ways to improve our situation. We have to be determined to answer the questions and criticisms being raised by our people to grow the continent. We have to be very patient, our people want results and we've got to deliver them," Mucavele said.

He also wanted to see improved intra-Africa trade and a conscious move by Africans to promote Africa as a brand -- which he said would lead to many Africans investing some of the $400 billion they hold in savings abroad back on the continent.
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