8 January 2000On behalf of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and in my capacity as co-chair of this exciting discussion -- along with Dr. Julius Ihonvbere and Ms. Adwoa Dunn-Mouton -- this is to formally welcome you to "International Policies, African Realities," an electronic roundtable aimed at sharpening and crystallizing the ongoing debate on U.S. development policy towards Africa.
We at ECA attach great importance to our partnership with the Africa Policy Information Centre (APIC) in this groundbreaking and innovative initiative. We see the roundtable as an innovative new way to help:
In promoting this partnership, we at ECA will systematically draw on the outcome of the high-level conferences and other gatherings that we have organized, as well as the findings of the Commission's analytical reports and policy documents, to enrich the APIC/ECA Electronic Roundtable discussions. We will also seek to leverage ECA's leadership role in the African Information Society Initiative as well as our experiences in the use of innovative electronic spaces for dialogue around major ECA forums to electronically link up with a broad range of stakeholders in Africa. Examples of our experience in this area include the several months of electronic dialogue that we sponsored around the theme of ECA's 40th Anniversary Conference in May 1998 and the African Development Forum (ADF) in October 1999.
- broaden and deepen the dialogue among all stakeholders on the critical development challenges facing Africa, foster a better understanding of policy and program implications of these challenges, and forge consensus on the way forward in addressing some of these challenges;
- facilitate the articulation and ownership of African-led solutions to Africa's development challenges;
- galvanize Africa's international friends and partners to rally around such policies and programmes; and
- enhance the wider dissemination of policy-relevant development information on Africa within the continent and among the Africanist Diaspora;
Indeed, we designed the African Development (ADF) Forum process precisely to advance dialogue and action on critical and urgent development issues confronting the continent, premised on the principle that African-led policies and strategies are essential to he continent attaining sustainable development.
It is in this context that in October we staged the first ADF under the theme "The Challenge to Africa of Globalization and the Information Age". Why? Because as the millennium loomed we considered it of utmost importance to define African-owned and African-led strategies to engage with the global information economy. I am pleased to inform you that ADF 2000 will focus on a similarly burning issue -- the development challenge in Africa posed by HIV/AIDS. Preparations for ADF 2000 are already underway in partnership with UNAIDS, the World Bank and other partners. We will be seeking ways of mobilizing the whole continent as well as our development partners around ways to address the HIV/AIDS development challenge in a holistic manner and with the highest possible political buy-in.
In that it seeks to bring the complexity of African development to a wider audience, as well as to contribute to ongoing initiatives aiming to shape future U.S. policy towards Africa, the APIC/ECA Electronic Roundtable resonates well with the goals of the ADF process, and the importance we attach to advocacy for Africa. It also provides an important channel at a time when we need to articulate more clearly to our bilateral partners why it is important that they maintain and increase levels of development assistance for the foreseeable future.
Earlier this year, I was privileged to have participated in the U.S.-Africa Ministerial meeting at the U.S. State Department. In my statement to the Ministerial, I outlined the potential characteristics of a partnership between the U.S. and Africa, and provided some perspectives on questions of trade, aid, investment, debt, information technology, regionalism and multilateralism. You can access the full text of this speech on the ECA Home Page at http://www.un.org/depts/eca or by sending an e-mail request to ecainfo@un.org. I am pleased to offer this statement to you as a useful input into the deliberations that we are about to begin.
Before I close these brief welcome remarks, I would like to commend to you the eminent panelists whose perspectives and ideas on the four themes will provide the substance around which this structured virtual discussion can take place. At ECA, we have always felt strongly that ways need to be found to tap into the wealth of African and Africanist intellectual capacity that exists. The list of panelists that this initiative has attracted is a clear manifestation of what can be done in this regard using electronic means of discussion.
Above all, the joy of this forum is that all of us can articulate our considered perspectives on the questions at hand. Indeed, it is what we all contribute that will shape the final outcome of this Roundtable, which APIC and ECA intend to publish in book form as well as archive electronically for public access. I therefore urge you all to participate fully and with all the passion that sparks your involvement in African development.
I will be following the discussions personally, and very much look forward to what I am certain will be a rich and vibrant dialogue that will constitute a significant contribution to the ongoing Africa policy dialogue in the U.S. and beyond.
Africa Policy Information Center
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