Image: Gallo

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan

In a statement on Tuesday, Brand SA said it had brought together global leaders from business and politics at Davos to discuss the role of Africa in global transformation.

"In Africa, it [corruption] is an issue and one we take seriously. I believe there is an obligation on investors in Africa to help create a better climate," Gordhan told the meeting.

"I am hopeful that we will challenge it more as new leaders emerge in business and politics."

The event also featured Geoff Riddell, Chairman of Global Corporate & CEO Asia Pacific and Middle East at Zurich Financial Services and TIME's international editor, Jim Frederick.

The session, which focused on Africa's role in an increasingly multi-polar world, reached a consensus that infrastructure development, the removal of trade barriers, more sophisticated financial markets and shifting from distributing raw commodities to exporting modified commodities were key conditions for creating more diversified economies across the continent.

"There is a huge opportunity for the continent to start picking up dividends as China moves up the value chain and releases jobs, enabling African countries to outbid countries like Vietnam for these jobs," Gordhan noted.

"However, people won't come to Africa just because it's Africa, we need to create the opportunity for people to partner; that is the great transformation. In the near future, we will need to create jobs for a billion people and we must ensure that there is political will, the institutions and infrastructure that enable us to move into the next epoch of developments and bringing more value to our exports, for example beneficiation."

Panellists remarked that because of its size - both in terms of population and land mass - development in Africa needed to be considered at three levels: country, sub-regional and pan-regional.

"The more we get cross-country initiatives, the more we get rid of some of the curses like over-politicisation and corruption," Riddell said.

Echoing this sentiment Gordhan added: "Only 10% of African trade happens in Africa, in Europe this figure is up near 60%. We need Africa to invest in Africa."

Gordhan also noted that while the global economic crisis had put pressures on Africa, the current situation in Europe had presented Africa with an opportunity to learn and improve on regional economic integration.

"The world is looking at itself and saying multi-polarity is a reality. The recent crisis has shown us that despite the euro, in terms of identity, policy and financial structures, sub-regions in Europe still exist," the minister stated.

Regarding corruption, Riddell pointed to the impact corruption indices had had on governments in the Middle East. He believed the same effect was taking place across Africa.

Riddell added that cross-border trade had less corruption, and noted that with an increase in regional economic integration he expected to see a parallel decrease in corruption.

"The economy is going in the right direction. It will keep doing so, there will be bumps on the road, but Africa is where we see balance and growth in our corporate portfolios."