African governments need to be given greater ability to support development in the region, especially in tough economic times where every dollar counts, said Tony Blair in Busan on Tuesday.

Speaking at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, the former British prime minister said assistance needs to help poor countries stand on their own rather than depend on the wealthy.

At a panel discussion titled “Taking Charge Not Taking Charity: How Africa Can Lead Its Development,” Blair stressed the need for helping each government create basic capacity to support its people and economy, and determine their priorities and economic development.

And the idea of building a country’s capacity for supporting development, which Blair says is the biggest obstacle, is something that officials in Liberia agree with.

“The capacity of the state to deliver services, that is our biggest issue” said Liberia’s Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs Amara Konneh, a panel member.

Experts are also seeing a change in the field of aid from official development assistance to include private investments.

According to Blair, the amount of aid from the private sector has overtaken the amount of official development assistance.

Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development Rajiv Shah said the area has been “overtaken by private flows from witnesses and many other forms of capital transfer in a more vibrant and a more connected global financial system.”

Shah and Blair also stressed the need for open government and more transparent systems, which was demonstrated by the introduction of the Open Government Partnership.

Blair said that the need for democracy, transparency and accountability are hugely important, while Shah said that their focus on elections have yielded great results in countries moving from governance to democratic governance.

A recipient country must also take responsibility for determining its priorities, according to the former British prime minister, who added that the country will know what is best for it.

“Those priorities have got to be clearly delineated with the international community behind them,” said Blair.

By Robert Lee(robert@heraldcorp.com)