T Mbeki: African Union - African Diaspora Ministerial Conference

16 November 2007

Director of Ceremonies
Your Excellency, Chairperson of the African-Union (AU) Commission, Professor
Alpha Oumar Konare
Your Excellencies Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Members of the AU Commission
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen

I am honoured to welcome you to South Africa and this critically important
and historic conference. Our government and people are indeed very pleased that
together, as Africans, we have taken yet another step towards building a system
of co-operation among ourselves that will increase our capacity to confront and
solve the common problems we share, enabling us to assert our dignity as human
beings.

Let me repeat a story you know very well. At the beginning of the twentieth
century, the Trinidad barrister, Sylvester Williams, sponsored the first
Pan-African Congress which was held in London in 1900. One of the most
important and indelible results of this gathering was that it gave birth to the
concept of Pan-Africanism.

Accordingly, engagements such as this AU-African Diaspora Ministerial
Conference are part of the great tradition of the African people, wherever they
are, to unite and confront the many challenges we have faced for many
centuries. Whereas Sylvester Williams, WEB du Bois, George Padmore, Kwame
Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and others organised the Pan-African Congresses so as to
mobilise and fight colonialism and racism, today we are faced with multiple
challenges most of which are the legacy of slavery, colonialism and
apartheid.

Indeed, the various African Diaspora Regional Consultative Conferences held
on the different continents identified appropriate themes which are at the very
heart of our common struggle of defeating poverty, underdevelopment and the
marginalisation of the African people.

I would therefore like to make some comments on these sub-themes that you
have used as a guide in your various regional consultative conferences and
which are central to your discussions in this particular conference.

As you know, these sub-themes are:
* global dialogue, peace and stability,
* historical, socio-cultural and religious commonalities,
* knowledge sharing,
* women, youth, children and vulnerable groups,
* economic co-operation,
* regional development and integration.

If we were to pose the question in this room whether the contemporary system
of international relations is characterised by global dialogue, I am certain
the answer would be in the negative because if we had proper global dialogue,
humanity would not be confronted by as many problems as we are today, because
dialogue is supposed to be a reciprocal conversation between people.

Indeed, the Russian philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin describes dialogue as the
power of discourse to increase understanding of multiple perspectives and
create myriad possibilities. He asserts that relationships and connections
exist among all living beings, and that dialogue creates a new understanding of
a situation that demands change.

Similarly, the well-known Brazilian educationist, Paulo Freire, described
dialogue as a type of classroom pedagogy. He believed that dialogued
communication allowed students and teachers to learn from one another in an
environment characterised by respect and equality. For Paulo Freire dialogued
pedagogy was not only about deepening understanding, it was also about making
positive changes in the world.

However, as we know from our own experiences, more often than not, the
powerful and the rich of the world understand global dialogue as an opportunity
to dictate terms to the rest of humanity.

Contrary to this, just like Mikhail Bakhtin and Paulo Freire, we see
dialogue being about understanding and learning from others. Dialogue is
important to us because it dispels stereotypes, builds trust and helps people
to be open to views and perspectives that are very different from their
own.

Therefore, all of us as Africans, both in the motherland and in the Diaspora
should entrench dialogue in our engagements. This is particularly so with all
of us on the continent so that we respond successfully to such challenges as
the attainment of peace and stability.

Further, that we need to do more to strengthen our historical,
socio-cultural and religious commonalities. I have noted the correct
observation from our compatriots in the Diaspora that while many of them have
made huge contributions to our struggles for freedom, those on the African
continent have not reciprocated, especially in the many struggles that they
themselves face today. This, I believe, is something that both our individual
countries as well as the African Union have to look into seriously.

Chairperson, there is an urgent need for knowledge sharing and economic
co-operation between Africa and the Diaspora. For instance, the development
programme of the African Union, New Partnership for Africa's Development
(Nepad), has developed various projects and programmes that are currently being
implemented.

The report presented to this conference indicates, among other things, that
the regional consultative conferences that have already taken place have
strongly emphasised the need for the development of modern communication
infrastructure in Africa in the form of satellite networks and fibre optic
cables.

Indeed, one of Nepad's important projects is the Eastern Africa Submarine
Cable System (EASSy), a 9 900 km long submarine cable between Durban on our
east coast and Port Sudan, which will undoubtedly transform the
telecommunication sector in Africa. This project which would also cut
telecommunication costs in Africa could be operational by the end of 2008.

EASSy will connect with terrestrial fibre-optic cables to make up what will
be known as the Nepad Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Broadband
Network. This, I have no doubt is consistent with your own discussions and
would help the continent to free itself from its dependence on expensive
satellite systems to carry voice and data traffic.

Let me take this opportunity to mention a few of other Nepad projects. We
have spoken about them before, but because of the importance of the leadership
gathered here I think it is proper to mention them again. These Nepad projects
include the Pan-African Infrastructure Development Fund, which we launched this
year, to finance large-scale African infrastructure projects, using funds
mobilised from our own continent. We are indeed very happy that we have so far
managed to capitalise this fund to the tune of $625 million, depending
exclusively on African capital.

The fund has pledged to finance projects, on the African continent, in areas
such as transport, energy, technology and general infrastructure. In addition,
the African Development Bank has been very busy with the funding of various
Nepad projects. The bank has reported that it has mobilised US $1,6 billion to
finance various infrastructure improvement projects across Africa, mainly in
the rail, road and energy sectors. This is in addition to the 33 different
projects under Nepad that the Bank has already financed to the cost of US$800
million. Nepad has also launched an important ICT programme called the Nepad
e-Schools Initiative which aims to ensure that schools across the continent
have access to modern communication technology.

There are indeed other projects in different sectors and I am confident that
through these projects some of which are in collaboration with partners from
the developed north, the vision of the African Renaissance will, in time,
become a living reality.

At the same, if we were able to work better together with the Africans in
the Diaspora, utilising the skills and expertise that many of them have, many
of these programmes and projects will be implemented faster and I am certain
more efficiently.

Further, I think while we have pressing challenges here on the African
continent, it would be proper for us to look into ways and means of extending
the Nepad programmes and projects to the Africans in the Diaspora. Through
these programmes and projects should also be possible to attract back into
Africa the much-needed scarce and critical African skills that have emigrated
to the developed North.

I would also like fully to endorse the identification by the regional
consultative conferences of the need for collaboration between the private
sectors in Africa and the Diaspora to increase access to capital, to business
expertise and markets to accelerate development both on the Continent and the
African Diaspora.

Indeed, we should move with the necessary speed to implement the Action Plan
on Science and Technology of the African Union. In this regard, our brothers
and sisters in the Diaspora are very critical. Further, we should identify
institutions and universities that could form strategic partnerships across the
African world so that these institutions accelerate their practical work
relevant to our common challenges.

Again, as you have observed, it is important that the issues of women,
youth, children and vulnerable groups should not be left at the periphery but
should be central to all the work we would do. The progress we make against
poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation can only be properly measured by
the steps we take to ensure advancement and prosperity of women, youth,
children and vulnerable groups.

Before I conclude, I would like to assure you that our eminent continental
organisation, the African Union is determined to give effect to the Pan-African
vision that first found organised expression in the Pan-African Conference of
1900. While remaining firmly committed to the objective of uniting the African
Continent, it similarly remains firmly committed to meaningful co-operation
between our Continent and the African Diaspora.

For this reason, for instance, the African Union fully supported our
proposal to Fifa that we should treat the 2010 Soccer World Cup which we will
host, as an African Soccer World Cup, inclusive of the African Diaspora.
Accordingly, therefore, our Continent is at one that the 2010 Fifa Soccer World
Cup should also benefit the African Diaspora. We remain committed to this
goal.

Fellow Africans: Together, we will have to work hard to implement the
recommendations that you will be making at this conference so that our meetings
should always be important platforms for action that would ensure that
Africans, wherever they are, enjoy prosperity and are able to walk tall among
all the peoples of the world.

I wish this important conference success and thank you for your
attention.

Issued by: The Presidency
16 November 2007
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)