Africa is arguably the richest continent on Earth in terms of its natural resources, yet its share of world trade is less than five percent, writes Muna Ndulo, a Cornell University visiting professor of law, in the current issue of the Institute for African Development newsletter Africa Notes.

Africa's near absence from the arena of world trade and the need for non-African countries to invest in the continent will be addressed at an upcoming symposium, "Integrating Africa into the Global Economy," at Cornell Oct. 25 and 26. The symposium is free and open to the public and will be held in Room 290 Myron Taylor Hall. The symposium is scheduled to coincide with World Food Day, the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This year's symposium is dedicated to Ron Brown, the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce who worked tirelessly to bolster African trade, said David B. Lewis, director of the Institute for African Development.

"The goal of the symposium is to understand better how Africa might expand its participation in world trade," Lewis said. "Currently, Africa is exporting its primary raw materials -- oil, copper, diamonds and agricultural products -- and importing the finished products. There are tremendous opportunities for Africans to do their own processing and manufacturing -- which would bring employment and economic benefits to the continent."

And to non-African countries. "There's a huge potential market for investment in Africa," he added. "From a business perspective alone, it's extremely important that the rest of the world build economic linkages there."

In fact, it's critical, according to Ndulo, who writes, "The capacity of African countries to export will, to a large extent, depend on patterns of external investment in the African economies."

The World Food Day Symposium begins at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, with a keynote address from Andemichael Kahsai, Eritria's ambassador to the United States and Canada.

When Eritria won its independence from Ethiopia recently after a 30-year struggle, Lewis said, "the expectation was that independence would be followed by a period of difficult relations. But to the contrary, the two countries have worked well together. They provide us with an example of how countries can cooperate with positive strategies, for mutual benefit."

Ambassador Kahsai took a circuitous route to the world of diplomacy: While an officer with the Ethiopian Air Force, he defected to join the Eritrean People's Liberation Front. He later served as Eritria's ambassador to Italy before becoming ambassador to the United States and Canada in January 1995.

Saturday will feature three sessions:

• "De-Marginalizing Africa with Investment and Trade," 9 a.m.;
• "Regional Cooperation and Development," 1 p.m.;
• "Mobilizing African Know-How for Development," panel discussion, 4 p.m.

Visiting speakers will include David H. Miller, director of the Corporate Council on Africa; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the United Nations Development Program; Rose Mlenget Migiro, Faculty of Law, University of Dar es Salaam; Paati Ofofu-Amaah, Legal Division, World Bank; Alemante Selassie, College of William and Mary Law School; Xolela Mangcu, Rockefeller Foundation, New York; and Jon Wagner, Norwegian Peoples Aid, Sudan.

Participating Cornellians include Lewis and Ndulo; David Sahn, director of the Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program; Erik Thorbecke, the H.E. Babcock Professor of Economics and Food Economics; Dotsevi Y. Sogah, professor of chemistry; Jan Jasper, graduate student, city and regional planning; and Ndunge Kiiti, graduate student of communication.

The World Food Day Symposium is being organized by the Institute for African Development with support from many organizations both on and off campus, including Cornell's Africana Studies and Research Center, the Cornell African Students' Association and the World Bank.