Pres Ruto pushes for win-win financial support at Paris summit

President William Ruto held talks with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron on the status of key development projects agreed upon by the two countries. [PCS][

President William Ruto has urged African leaders to push hard to sit on the table in global scenes.

Ruto said the leaders should not wait for crumbs to fall which most of the time come at a cost.

He said although tomorrow's summit, whose theme is 'with Africa and not for Africa', will be a platform to discuss how the continent can be equal partners, African Presidents have to show commitment to some fundamentals.

Ruto has been aggressive on the need to rewrite the rule book to stop the profiling of the continent as a high-risk borrower, a tag that comes with high-interest rates or no commitment on debt requests.

"We are asking for a win-win financial architecture that brings everyone on board," he said. Adding: "It has failed to respond to the needs of emerging economies; it is rigged against those of us in the global south."

The officials agreed with the President that this is the way to go and the conditions will be ideal to push the new mode of operation but with new status comes more responsibility.

They say African economies have expanded considerably over the last years and many have been encouraged to expand the fiscal base which will result in new taxes.

However, the new levies ought to be charged on companies and industries that make profit from the conducive environments but "that is a decision for the governments to make".

President Emmanuel Macron has invited heads of state and government, financial institutions bosses, and representatives of the private sector and civil society to lay the foundation for a new system that will meet global challenges such as financial inequality, climate change and protecting biodiversity.

Sources say the leaders will have to agree to align governance issues, and taxation policies and it is for Africa to market itself as a budding economy.

Although the sources said there is a price for what Africa is asking for, a senior advisor of President Macron said the resolutions to be reached at the Thursday Summit will be a new dawn for the continent with regard to its relations with the world.