Horizon 2020: Paving the Way for the Future of Equatorial Guinea

Horizon 2020: Paving the Way for the Future of Equatorial Guinea

Following Wikileaks release of some 250.000 + cables from U.S. Embassies around the world, otherwise known as Cablegate, the following is meant to take a closer look at one set of cables in particular, which gives an updated ground level view of what has been described as one of the world's most isolated and misunderstood countries: Equatorial Guinea.

From the moment I first came across these cables, which had originated from the U.S. Embassy in Malabo, I was instantly drawn to them. I hadn't known a whole lot about Equatorial Guinea leading up to the release of the cables, other than what most of us at least think we know, in that EG is yet another impoverished country plagued by corruption and greed. This bias, as described in one of the cables, is the result of a dedicated and vicious segment of the Spanish media who's aim is to provide a distorted frame of reference for anyone casually seeking information about the only former-Spanish colonial holding in Africa. Look a little deeper, however, and the current state of affairs in EG appears somewhat different.

Since the 1990's when EG first stepped onto the world stage as Sub-Saharan Africa's fourth-largest producer of crude oil it has been a country in flux. Described within the cables as a place trying to do everything at once, Equatorial Guinea, under the leadership of President and current Chairman of the African Union, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, has made some stunning advancements, including institutional development and legal reform, as well as the construction of roads and bridges, new ministry buildings and the professionalization of its security forces. Despite these great efforts and outstripping its retrospective critics Equatorial Guinea remains a true work in progress.

As the cable attests, EG is a country that started with practically nothing and then went backwards for at least a decade once it got its independence. Now with billions at stake in oil revenue EG continues to pave its way to be able to efficiently serve its public's interest. With its first 10 year economic development plan just having been successfully completed EG has developed a follow up plan, which has been coined "Horizon 2020" and is foreseen to be likewise promising.

While the first plan was focused on the "hardware" of modern society, such as roads, bridges, public buildings, etc. the second will be focused on the need to compliment these structures with "software", such as institutional and human capacity to run and maintain the system.

The cable nicely summarizes this plan as a strategy to put a poorly prepared generation, to work low-skilled jobs building the infrastructure, while the next generation prepares to run a modern society. Clearly, they still have a good ways to go, but we can find encouragement in the fact that this generational shift currently underway is clearly contributing to this positive evolution and the system is adjusting.

The full-unedited transcript of this cable can be viewed at http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/03/09MALABO31.html

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