sector to compete and succeed but also for the state to play directly in the economy in the form, for example, of state enterprises operating in strategic sectors. He concluded this section by emphasising that ―APRM member countries should, therefore, be reviewed on how they are promoting private sector as the engine of growth.‖47 sector in any detail, but it deals with the potential contribution of the private sector and the challenges it faces. This is particularly pronounced in the Corporate Governance (CG) thematic area, and specifically under Objective 1 on Promoting an Enabling Environment and Effective Regulatory Framework for Business Organisations and Other Entities. Africa‘s domestic private sector is indeed underdeveloped. Partly motivated by ideological considerations, harassment of the private sector has been a widespread practice in much of Africa until recently. This has in turn been a factor, among many, behind Africa‘s mixed and sometimes disappointing economic performance for a long time. Turning this around, building a resilient private sector – particularly a domestic private sector – is a critical part of the continent‘s development agenda today. Encouragingly, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor has found that African attitudes towards entrepreneurship are among the most positive in the world.48 However, when African leaders established the APRM, its primary task was ―to promote adherence to and fulfilment of the commitments contained in this Declaration‖, a reference to the 2002 NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance.49 Among the recognised instruments as a standard of governance is the NEPAD Framework Document from 2001, which deals with the private sector specifically and extensively. To mention just a few examples, the Framework Document acknowledges that there is ―an urgent need to create conditions conducive to private sector investments by both domestic and foreign investors.‖50 Among the objectives of NEPAD in this particular area include the need ―to ensure a sound and conducive environment for private sector activities, with particular emphasis on domestic entrepreneurs‖, ―to promote foreign direct investment and trade, with special emphasis on exports‖ and ―to develop micro-, small and medium enterprises, including the informal sector.‖51 At the same time, we need to recognise that the structure of Africa‘s national economies exhibits extreme diversity in which a large number of informal sector, often micro, businesses operating side by side with a small number of formally registered small-to-medium indigenous enterprises and, in many cases, an even smaller number of large multi-national firms. Needless to say, while undue government interference and harassment affects them all, it is clearly the smaller ones that are most vulnerable as they lack the resources to defend themselves adequately. They also lack political access that is often easily available to large enterprises. As a result, interference with the private sector is likely to have a disproportionate impact on the continent‘s smallest, aspirant businesspeople, thereby retarding the growth of a resilient business community. It is notable that this bottleneck is related to Bottlenecks no. 4 (fragmented markets, market access and expansion), no. 5 (lack of industrialisation and low value addition), no. 8 (underdevelopment of agriculture), no. 9 (under-development of the services sector), and no. 10 (non-responsive civil service). Beyond the NEPAD Framework Document, several other documents touch on the issue of interference with the private sector, albeit mostly obliquely, providing for some broad preferences about appropriate state action. These include:     What the APRM does about Interference with the Private Sector  The APRM questionnaire does not delve much into the issue of interference in or the harassment of the private  47 48 Discussion Paper, p. 2. Kelly D, S Singer and M Herrington, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2015/16 Global Report, 2016, pp. 117118. The response of Africans to questions about the desirability of entrepreneurship as a career choice and the status accorded to entrepreneurs revealed the most positive attitudes of all continents. 49 50 51 21 AU, Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003, Maputo, Mozambique) Bank for International Settlements, Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems (January 2001, Basle, Switzerland) IMF, Revised Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency (2001, Washington DC, USA) OAU, Memorandum of Understanding, Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Co-operation in Africa (2002, Durban, South Africa) OECD, Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises (2005, Paris, France) UN, Convention against Corruption (2003, New York, USA) See NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance (AHG/235 (XXXVIII), Annex I), para. 28. NEPAD Framework Document, para. 145, p. 37. NEPAD Framework Document, para. 163, p. 46.