Chairperson

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the organizers of this important event for inviting us to come and share with you the challenges facing our continent. It is our hope that at the end of this gathering we would all have a clear and defined role on what we need to do to indeed turn into reality our proclamation that this is an African Century.

We must start in earnest now to ensure that our great continent achieves her rejuvenation and reclaims her pre-eminent role as the cradle of humanity and civilization. Africa's civilization rests on strong foundation such as the ruins of the African city of Carthage, the great learning centers of Timbuktu, the Benin bronze and sculptures of the Makonde of Tanzania, the obelisks of Ethiopia, and the kingdom of Monamotapa and many others. All these monumental contributions to humanity speak glowingly of Africa's role in the process of evolution of humanity.

But, it has come to pass that during our long interregnum the children of Africa were shipped out of the continent as slaves to far away lands, and that our countries became the property of Europe. Consequently, as the continent and people we were held out as only the outstanding example of the case of charity and objects of pity, forever depended on the generosity of others. It is this paradigm of dependency that we believe all of us here today seek to change.

Distinguished Guests

We have just come from the last meeting of the Organization of African Unity. This meeting is winding down the activities of this great Organization, which has served us so honorably and admirably in the struggle for the decolonization of the continent and is now in the process of being transformed into the African Union.

We hope that the African Union that is at the gestation stage presently will deal comprehensively with the political, economical and social challenges facing our continent.

Nonetheless, it is the mandated programme of the AU, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) that we wish to talk to you about today.

We all know that our continent continues to fight the legacies bequeathed to us by the ignoble systems of slavery, colonialism and apartheid. These legacies speak of a continent that is enmeshed in poverty, hunger and diseases. They speak of a continent faced with economic underdevelopment, technological deficiencies and reeling under the yoke of unsustainable burden of debt.

Faced with these negative developments our leaders in Sirte, Libya mandated Presidents Mbeki and Bouteflika to convey a message to the Group of 8 for the change of these power relations that confine Africa to the position of perpetual dependency. This was followed by the mandate of the South Summit in Cuba, to President Obasanjo as Chairman of Gil to raise similar issues of concern to the G8.

The above process led to the drafting of the first programme (MAP), which was presented to the OAU in Togo. This process was followed by the merging of the MAP and the OMEGA Plan into NEPAD, which was adopted by the OAU Summit in Lusaka last year.

NEPAD is about creating conducive conditions for meaningful and sustainable development in Africa. It seeks to stop the current conflicts in Africa and prevent new ones. It entails a forceful commitment to democracy and good political and economic governance as well as the provision of macro-economic stability and a better management and utilization of public revenues. Sound economic policies coupled to peace and security enable us to address poverty, job creation and human resources development for ensuring better life for all.

NEPAD also deals with a better-structured integration of Africa into the global economy. As a continent that is predominantly agrarian, NEPAD also looks at the shameful act of agricultural subsidies by the developed countries, which locks out the agricultural produce from Africa. The Resources Flow Initiatives is addressing the declining Official Development Assistance and encourages the Foreign Direct Investment into the economies of our countries.

Distinguished Guests

Women who constitute a critical mass in the continent must have a central, critical and decisive role in the implementation and success of NEPAD. We must all play an advocacy role for this important component of the African society in the process of evolution of NEPAD, as this is not a static programme. The NEPAD Secretariat has drawn up action-oriented programmes for implementation as well as identifying other detailed priority areas.

The importance of NEPAD is to foster partnership, not only with the countries of the North but also with the South and with special acuteness among the African countries. There is a huge untapped potential that can be achieved through inter-trade among Africa countries. NEPAD envisages the development of the transport infrastructure such as roads to unlock this potential. NEPAD is also working on strengthening the coordination and monitoring of Regional Economic Communities, which are important building blocks for our continent and will also help to continue to deepen integration.

Other concrete programmes of NEPAD like the laying of the undersea fibreoptic cable linking Africa to Europe and Asia are an ample proof that through inter-Africa cooperation a lot can be achieved. The Oil and Gas Pipeline in West Africa, regional power grids such as the Mepanda Uncua Hydropower project, the Ethiopia-Sudan Interconnection show that NEPAD's objectives are slowly but surely finding expression.

Distinguished Guests

Having outlined partly the role of NEPAD in driving the process of extricating our continent from underdevelopment and poverty, it however remains disconcerting that the process to popularize NEPAD and the AU as agreed in Lusaka in every African state has not happened as envisaged. It is essential that African private sector, civil society structures like yourselves mobilize in support of NEPAD. In turn this process must provide you with opportunities to engage in a meaningful manner and to deepen the ownership of the initiative.

This is your programme as well. In this regard, it is important that you hold your leaders to accountability in respect to the dissemination of information about NEPAD. It is also significant that in every country we set up an "In-Country" NEPAD communication structures in order to market and popularize NEPAD. This process must be followed by a region-wide communications structures to communicate similar message.

We are very optimistic that this programme will surely succeed in uplifting our continent. African leaders are demonstrating the political will and the necessary capacity not to allow this opportunity to pass Africa by.

Finally, unlike other externally imposed initiatives, this programme is designed by Africans for Africa. This programme represents genuine partnership instead of the paternalistic relationships that have been prevalent over the years. This unique opportunity is being firmly grasped by everyone, the present goodwill and momentum that has been generated will be maintained and the implementation of NEPAD will proceed apace. For the sake of future generation, we cannot afford to fail.