Statement on the Deputy President's Working Visit to Ethiopia

Deputy President Jacob Zuma will, on a working visit to Addis Ababa Ethiopia from 6-7 March 2002, participate in the Third African Development Forum for Regional Integration in Addis Ababa. The Deputy President will participate in the Plenary Session set aside for Heads of State Presentations on Thursday 7 March 2002 where it is expected, that NEPAD and the African Union will receive attention.

The Forum, running from 3-8 March 2002 will focus on, "Defining Priorities for Regional Integration".

The African Development Forum (ADF) is an initiative led by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to present the key stakeholders in Africa’s development (governments, civil society, the private sector, researchers and academics, inter- governmental organisations and donors) with current research and opinion on key development issues. The deliberations become the basis for drawing up shared goals and priorities for time-bound and country-specific action plans around which donor support is mobilised. Mechanisms are in place for African countries and the ADF to monitor and follow-up agreed actions at country level.

The ADF aims at improving policy outcomes and consistency, and enhances the effectiveness of aid. The ADF provides a two-way bridge between policy-making and research, thus promoting demand-driven, policy-relevant inquiry among academics and researchers. The Forum facilitates the sharing of ideas, experiences, strengthens networks and relationships among Africa's development stakeholders. The inaugural ADF in Addis Ababa, from 25 to 28 October 1999, focused on the Challenge to Africa of Globalisation and the Information Age.

The ADF III is an exercise in coalition building and consensus-building. Its success will depend on the active engagement of the broadest and deepest possible range of interests internally, as well as from Africa’s international development co-operation partners.

Participation at ADFIII will therefore include a very broad spectrum of stakeholders.

The Third African Development Forum (ADF III) will focus on five thematic clusters:

Economic Policies for Accelerating Regional Integration: The cluster will focus on convergence of macroeconomic policies, monetary, fiscal, trade and exchange, including consistency of national and integration targets and supporting policies. It will identify the key strategic policy actions to be taken at the regional, sub-regional and national levels.

Physical Integration through Infrastructure Development: The cluster will discuss priorities for infrastructure development to step up the pace of regional integration. It will look at the regulatory framework for regional projects, financing of such projects, and services to be delivered by supra-national institutions. The cluster will look at modalities for agreeing, designing and implementing regional infrastructure projects, and for attracting and servicing investment in these sectors. The cluster will also look at how, taking advantage of improved regional infrastructure, strategic lines of industry, or enterprises, can be regionalized to increase their competitiveness in the global economy;

Regional Approaches to Regional Issues: The cluster deliberate upon issues and challenges that can be defined in a regional context and which would be more effectively addressed through regional approaches. These include science and technology, education and research, and food security planning and response. In this context, a point of focus will be to explore avenues for proactively using regional integration frameworks to address challenges to development such as HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, riparian issues and environmental questions.

Institutional Arrangements and Capacity: The cluster will look at the optimal institutional configuration for an accelerated regional integration process. In the context of the steps needed to operationalize the African Union, and drawing on the experience of other regions, it will examine the question of sequencing of the establishment of the key structures under the African Union, as well as their mandates and inter-relationships. In addition, it will candidly assess the requirements for rationalizing sub-regional groupings and harmonizing country membership in these groupings. It will also look at capacity needs, including the skills mix, of these institutions.

The Peace and Security Architecture: Given the clear link between peace and development, this sub-theme will take stock of the successes and failures of the peace and security architecture on the continent. It will examine how this architecture can be rationalized and harmonized to ensure the necessary conditions for an accelerated African Union. A key question will be how the peace and security architecture can address post-conflict transformation issues, and bridge the gap between conflict and normative development.

The Deputy President will return to South Africa on 8th March 2002.

For further information contact Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853 or Zanele Mngadi on 082 781 9332

Issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs

Private Bag X152

Pretoria

0001

4th March 2002