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Africa: Recent ECA Statements, 1
Africa: Recent ECA Statements, 1
Date distributed (ymd): 970509
Document reposted by APIC
The Economic Commission for Africa, which just completed its latest
Conference of Ministers meeting in Addis Ababa, is now making a wide variety
of documents available by e-mail and on the World Wide Web. This posting
and the next one contain a press release and statements from the May 5-8
meeting.
For more information, please contact:
Peter K.A. da Costa Regional Adviser, Communication for Development
Cabinet Office of the Executive Secretary UN Economic Commission for Africa
P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Tel: +251-1-51 58 26 (direct) or +251-1-5172
00 Ext 161 Fax: +251-1-51 22 33 E-Mail: <ipspdc@harare.iafrica.com>
or <Peter_da_Costa_at_UNECA@un.org>
The ECA's web site, on-line at http://www.un.org/Depts/eca,
has additional documents, including the "Report on the Economic and
Social Situation in Africa, 1997" (http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/confr/23conf/ecorpt.htm).
For most convenient access to recent information, go directly to the "What's
New" page (http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/news/index.htm).
May 8, 1997 ECA PRESS RELEASE NO. 14
ECA MINISTERS STRONGLY ENDORSE ROLE OF INFORMATION AND
PRIVATE
SECTOR IN AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT
Addis Ababa, 8 May 1997: African Ministers responsible for economic
and social development and planning ended a 5-day meeting at the headquarters
of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with a set of resolutions and
a declaration on accelerating trade and investment in the region in which
they strongly endorsed the role of information and the private sector in
Africa's development.
The 'Declaration on Accelerating Trade and Investment in Africa' clearly
sets out its purpose, saying: "We are convinced that trade and investment
are essential components in any credible strategies to accelerate our countries'
development and sustain high rates of economic growth".
The Declaration comes out strongly in favour of partnership with the
private sector in general and Transnational Corporations (TNCs) in particular
as a policy choice.
Broadly-based high rates of economic growth geared towards creating
employment and generating rising incomes are recognized as essential components
for poverty reduction and its eventual eradication.
The Declaration stresses that to boost domestic savings and investment,
attract private foreign capital transfers and expand trade with the rest
of the world Africa must, among other things:
(a) change the negative perception of Africa as a high-risk place; (b)
improve information flow on development in Africa; (c) modernize, expand
and diversify production; (d) reduce the cost of establishing business;
and (e) strengthen international competitiveness.
It takes the Uruguay Round Agreement in its stride by noting that it
offers Africa both challenges and opportunities. It however goes on to
point out that, though Africa has created a conducive environment for trade
expansion with the rest of the world, protectionist policies on the part
of others with regard to African agricultural, textile and clothing have
frustrated that expansion.
Welcoming the debt-reduction initiative for highly indebted poor countries
(HIPCs) recently proposed by the World Bank, and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) as a first step in the right direction, the Declaration calls
for additional and more generous resources to "substantially reduce
all Africa countries's debt stock". The cost of servicing external
debt is estimated to have exceeded US$340 billion by the end of 1996.
The conference -- which met from 5 to 8 May -- came out decisively in
favour of implementing the African Information Society Initiative (AISI),
a framework adopted by ministers in 1996 to build Africa's national information
and communications infrastructure as a part of a strategy to harness information
and communication technologies towards development.
"The next step is for African governments in implementing aspects
of AISI at national level," said Nancy Hafkin, ECA's AISI focal point.
"We at ECA are going to be placing emphasis on action-oriented interventions
and are here to work, with our partners, to assist African governments."
Key attention was given to the role information and communications technologies
in promoting trade and investment in a major symposium -- organised by
ECA together with the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC).
The symposium was broadcast live by satellite on Multichoice DSTV by MNET
Wednesday.
An executive summary of the GIIC Statement of Addis Ababa is attached
below. A full version -- as well as the full text of the Declaration on
Accelerating Trade and Investment in Africa -- is distributed under separate
e-mail cover.
This and other press releases and background documents relating to the
conference are available either by e-mail or post, or at the UN ECA Web
site: www.un.org/depts/eca
UN ECA's African Information Society Initiative (AISI) home page is
at: www.bellanet.org/partners/aisi,
and it includes the full text of the AISI framework.
(END)
GIIC Statement of Addis Ababa - Executive Summary
The Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC) strongly supports
the forward looking thinking of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
in its call for active and on-going private sector participation in the
implementation of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI).
As the leading intersectoral global private sector organization which
seeks to actively involve the developing countries in the process of building
the Information Society, the GIIC was pleased to contribute to the formulation,
launch, coordination and dissemination of the AISI.
To further contribute to the success of the AISI, the GIIC proposes
a set of principles that should guide the implementation of the AISI within
each African country. This Brief Statement is drawn from a longer Policy
Statement. The GIIC statement focuses on the following four points:
The Information Revolution is partially driven by information and communications
technologies (ICTs) and is fundamentally important for all societies around
the world;
The ICT revolution is especially important for developing countries
and their people;
While a modern imperative for all countries, diffusing ICT effectively
and equitably, is neither easy nor automatic;
We support and encourage the ECA's commitment to adopt a concrete implementation
plan for the AISI as plans for National Information and Communications
Infrastructure (NICI) within each African country;
We recommend that the implementation of the AISI should take place with
as much cooperation as possible between the relevant societal sectors.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington
Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate
in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa,
by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and
analysis usable by a wide range of groups and individuals.
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