NARRATIVE PROGRAMME

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African Development Forum III      -      Defining Priorities for Regional Integration

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Introduction
Annotated Agenda
Pre-Forum Events
Pre-Forum African Union Symposium

ADF III Opening Session
Plenary Session 2: The History and Prospects for Regional Integration
Plenary Session 3: Assessing Economic Integration in Africa: Launching the ARIA
Plenary Session 4: Integration in Other Regions: Lessons for the AU
Plenary Session 5: Physical Integration through Infrastructural Development
Plenary Session 6: Economic Policies for Accelerating Regional Integration
Plenary Session 7: Peace and Security Architecture
Plenary Session 8: Building an Effective African Union
Plenary Session 9: Heads of State Presentations
Parallel Closed Session: Priorities for Implementation
Plenary Session 10: Heads of State Forum
Closing Session: The Way Forward
Stakeholder Focus Groups
Breakout Sessions

Introduction

The imperative of accelerated African regional economic integration is reflected in:

• The move towards transforming the Organization of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU); and

• Such leading initiatives for economic development as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

The third African Development Forum (ADF III) builds upon its established track record of cutting-edge debate and wide stakeholder participation. It is a critical coming together of representatives of African governments, the private sector, technical experts, international organizations and other stakeholders, to seek consensus and ownership of regional integration.

African Heads of State have committed themselves to establishment of the AU. The AU has ambitious structures that will require considerable skill and capacity to function effectively. A carefully phased and prioritized process will enable these institutions and structures to be set up incrementally and to maximum effect. ADF III will:

• Bring together vital stakeholders and experts;

• Broaden substantive inputs into the process of establishing the AU; and

• Widen African ownership of the process.

This forum will provide the OAU with a unique opportunity to discuss the challenges of moving towards the African Union and regional economic integration, benefit from expert analyses and obtain input from key stakeholders. Up to now, the AU process has been government-driven. It is necessarily a sovereign process, but experience from other parts of the world indicates that success depends on broadening ownership of the process, so as to engage all concerned fully. Public dialogue on formation of the AU was initiated at the June 2001 OAU meeting for civil society organizations (CSOs), during presentations and a question-and-answer session led by the former OAU Secretary-General and senior staff members. At Syrte in 2000, and subsequently at the 2001 Lusaka Summit), Africa’s Heads of State and Government agreed that broader consultation was necessary. ADF III is designed to tap such broadened and deepened consultation on regional integration.

ADF III takes place in the middle of the period of transition of the OAU to the AU. The Constitutive Act of the AU invites parliamentarians, CSOs and others to take on a pivotal role in the architecture of the Union. ADF III will be a crucial opportunity to examine how best to promote the components of the AU process. It will provide the AU with the opportunity for reflection and for incorporation of inputs from a range of participants, with the aim of making the process an inclusive one.

There is a powerful Africa-wide consensus on the prerequisites for economic development and poverty reduction. One component of this consensus is good governance for building a capable and effective State, with political representation of all social groups, effective institutions, good macroeconomic management and corporate governance. ECA’s concept of ‘enhanced partnership’ envisages a compact between African governments and their peoples. Leaders undertake to provide good governance, and to manage the affairs of the State fairly and effectively in pursuit of development. Good governance also enables high-quality development partnerships for poverty reduction, and facilitates private sector investment and economic growth.

A second key component is regional economic integration, to overcome the handicaps imposed by small and fragmented national markets, to obtain economies of scale in key infrastructural developments, and to maximize the efficient use of capital and labour in the context of globalization.

Africa’s major development initiatives, such as NEPAD, include regional cooperation and integration as a central component. Economic integration is vital if Africa is to optimize the use of its resources and attract inward investment. At Abuja in 1980, African governments committed themselves to move towards a common market, and the need to implement those commitments has never been greater.

The success of development partnership initiatives and regional integration and poverty reduction strategies depend on the full engagement of a wider range of stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society. ADF III is a tremendous opportunity for stakeholders and experts to provide inputs into Africa’s strategies for economic development, with a special focus on regional issues.

African leaders today are determined to chart a new political and economic course for the continent. There is consensus on the pivotal role that regional political and economic integration can play in this regard. ADF III provides an exceptional and well-timed opportunity for the AU and emergent development partnership initiatives to engage with a wide array of stakeholders.

Annotated Agenda

Pre-Forum Events:

Events taking place before the opening of ADF III include:

• A meeting of transport experts;

• Workshop on "Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) - Tools for Regional Integration";

• Preparatory meetings for the stakeholder focus groups;

• Briefings for chairpersons, rapporteurs, facilitators and resource persons;

• A media briefing;

• The African Union Symposium.

African Union Symposium

ADF III will discuss the AU in two stages. First is the pre-forum Symposium with approximately 60 selected participants. Second, a major ADF plenary followed by breakout sessions will deliberate the issues raised. The African Union Symposium provides an opportunity for OAU to detail the status, process and objectives of the AU, obtain inputs and consolidate consensus on the way forward. It will facilitate organized and focused interventions and inputs under the main thematic areas of ADF III.

• To enable the OAU Secretariat to present the current state of the process of establishing the AU, which started after the Lusaka Summit in July 2001. This includes the structure, resources, and priorities of the process, highlighting the current transition from the OAU to the AU. Four months before the scheduled completion of the transition period, the OAU will be able to explain the transitional terms of reference, timetable and outcomes.

• To provide an opportunity for CSOs, opinion makers and other stakeholders to engage constructively with the OAU and to begin an ongoing formalized dialogue.

• To situate the role of the AU in Africa’s quest for integration, relating it to other regional and subregional organizations and initiatives, including NEPAD. It will be an opportunity for stakeholders to examine the best means of ensuring the convergence and complementarity of Africa’s various regional and subregional arrangements.

Issues to be examined

Issues for discussion at the Symposium are grouped into three areas, namely, economic integration, peace and security, and institutional architecture and capacities.

1. Economic integration. How can the AU accelerate economic and political integration? How will the envisaged AU structure facilitate integration? How does it relate to the 1980 Abuja Treaty and other economic initiatives at regional and subregional levels? How will the AU relate to the private sector, both African and international? What is its relevance to key civil society concerns such as democracy, citizenship and human rights?

2. Peace, security, humanitarianism and human rights. How will the AU be linked to existing peace, security and conflict-management systems? How is the Conference on Stability, Security, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA) envisaged as a conflict management mechanism within the framework of the AU? Given that there is no single comprehensive peace and security system, will the AU bring coherence to the existing subregional peace and security or will ad hoc management remain the order of the day? Can transitional arrangements harmonize initiatives until a new comprehensive peace and security system develops, based on African experience and international responsibilities? How will measures and mechanisms for approving and implementing humanitarian interventions be established and coordinated subregionally? How will the regional peace and security agenda be linked to the UN Security Council and other international initiatives? In light of the human rights provisions in the Constitutive Act of the AU, what monitoring and enforcement mechanisms can be established? How will the AU seek to position Africa with respect to shifting global security concerns, especially since the 11 September 2001 crisis?

3. Institutional architecture and capacity. Given the background of weak linkages in the past between the OAU and subregional organizations (SROs) such as Southern African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), East African Cooperation (EAC), Inter- Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) etc., how is the AU process rectifying this weakness? What kind of structural relationships are envisaged to integrate SROs and regional economic communities (RECs) into the AU? How does the AU model specifically reflect African experiences and aspirations? How are people to be engaged, sensitized and activated in the process of building the Union? What is the timing and sequencing of the establishment of the institutions? What are the resource requirements for the AU Commission and other institutions? Where will the resources come from? If they are to be primarily membership dues, will AU suffer from chronic lack of resources, as has been the case with OAU’s funding record? What kind of technical assistance is needed in building the envisaged African institutions? What are the human resource requirements for the AU? How will it seek to leverage a collaborative and meaningful association with relevant research institutes, foundations, CSOs, universities, and other independent institutions? What interface does the AU anticipate with the UN?

• Secretary-General of the OAU and senior staff

• Senior staff of ECA

• Selected African intellectuals

• Selected CSO leaders

• Private sector representatives

• Senior staff from SROs

• Diplomats assigned to Addis Ababa

• Parliamentarians

• Others as appropriate

The symposium will consist of the following sessions:

1. The ECA Executive Secretary or his designated representative will open the Symposium and outline its relationship to ADF III. A presentation by the OAU Secretary-General or his designated representative on the AU follows next, to explain its content and process and the state of the transition.

2. Senior staff from the OAU will present the process of creating the AU and where it stands now, with two specialist discussants asking questions. This will be followed by an open discussion.

3. Working groups/breakout sessions on the following issues:

• The AU and economic integration;

• The AU and peace and security, humanitarianism and human rights; and

• The AU Commission: its institutions, capacities, requirements and relationships

In each case, the facilitators will prepare an issue paper in advance. This will be a short document, raising questions for consideration. Presenters will summarize these papers, followed by comments from a panel (including an OAU staff member, a CSO representative) and open discussion.

4. Plenary for conclusions and recommendations. A report from the symposium will be tabled at ADF III.

ADF III Opening Session

Chair:           K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary, ECA

Speakers:      Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister, Ethiopia

Amara Essy, Secretary-General, OAU

Omar Kabbaj, President, African Development Bank (ADB)

Wole Soyinka, African writer and intellectual, Nobel Laureate

The Executive Secretary of ECA, K.Y. Amoako, will deliver the welcome address at the opening session. Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, will address the forum, followed by statements by the Secretary-General of the OAU and by the President of ADB. Wole Soyinka, leading African writer and intellectual, will make the keynote address.

Plenary Session 2: The History and Prospects for Regional Integration

Chair:         Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily, Vice-President National Assembly (Senegal)

Presenter:         Adebayo Adedeji, former Executive Secretary, ECA

Discussant: Emmanuel Mushega, Secretary-General of East African Cooperation

Africa has a history of projects for integration and unification, from the Pan- Africanism of Kwame Nkrumah through to the 1980 Abuja Treaty committing governments to an African common market and the challenges of integration in the context of 21^st century globalization. The dreams and promises of several generations of African leaders have yet to be realized. In this session, the lessons to be learned from this history, and its application to current initiatives, will be highlighted.

Dr. Adebayo Adedeji will present a comprehensive overview of the history of regional integration, including regional initiatives, subregional efforts, the legal structures set up in Abuja in 1980, and their rationale in the light of globalization. He will ask, how are we to measure Africa’s historical demand for integration against current challenges and opportunities? Africa’s leading authority on this subject will outline the successes and failures of African regional integration from a long-term perspective.

The discussants will each contribute their views, the first based upon the experience of subregional integration efforts in East Africa, and the second reflecting the interests of the private sector. What is the vision for integration, and what interests have driven it? Where is the impetus for integration? What forms of integration have been tried? What has been the level of compliance with treaty obligations? Should the priority be subregional integration or continent-wide planning? What is the perspective of the private sector? How does the political vision of African unity fit in with the economic agenda?

Plenary Session 3: Assessing Economic Integration in Africa: Launching the ARIA

Chair: Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Executive Secretary, Global Coalition for Africa -GCA

Presentation: Launch of the first Annual Report on Integration in Africa (ARIA), ECA Regional Cooperation and Integration Division (RCID)

Discussants: Jean Louis Sarbib Vice President, Middle-East & North Africa Region, The World Bank

Economic integration is a complex and challenging task that requires a well-developed system for analysis, assessment, measurement and monitoring. How should such an assessment mechanism be established? What is the conceptual framework to be used? What are the dimensions that need to be measured, and what indicators should be monitored? How is this assessment process to be utilized by policy-makers?

This session will launch the first ARIA report. ARIA is an ECA project to analyze and monitor integration efforts in Africa, assess the effectiveness of those efforts, and provide a sound analytical basis for taking actions to promote regional coherence. This reporting is intended to provide quantifiable benchmarks for progress, which can enable policy-makers to evaluate their programmes, policies and outcomes, and hold themselves accountable for achievement of the goal of regional integration. The ARIA presentation will be followed by a discussion on enhancing the understanding and measurement of integration.

Plenary Session 4: Integration in Other Regions: Lessons for the AU

Chair:    Zéphérin Diabre, Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Presenters:    Bernard Petit European Union representative

Inter-American Development Bank representative

What lessons do other regional integration experiences hold for Africa? In this session, speakers will review the factors and strategies that helped and impeded regional integration elsewhere in the world, including Europe, the Americas and East Asia. Senior officials from relevant regional organizations will make presentations.

What are the preconditions for economic integration? Is a dominant regional economy required to drive it? Does integration need a dynamic private sector? How does it relate to globalization? What are the necessary institutional capacities in government? What are the costs to government institutions for the necessary adjustments? How are we to evaluate the relative importance of infrastructural integration and the harmonization of economic and monetary policies? How well do existing best practices, pitfalls and recommendations suit Africa’s particular circumstances?

Plenary Session 5: Physical Integration through Infrastructural Development

Chair:     Egyptian Minister of Transport, Chair of Transport Ministers Conference

Presenters:    Cyril Enweze, Vice President, ADB

Alan Gelb,Chief Economist and Director, TheWorld Bank

Discussant:    Kenneth Button,George Mason University

Alhaji Bamanga Mohamed Tukur, leading African entrepreneur

What is the infrastructural agenda for accelerating integration? Upgrading transport, telecommunications, and energy infrastructure is recognized as essential to the process of economic development and poverty reduction. This session will be an opportunity for infrastructural initiatives in key sectors to be showcased and discussed.

What are the priorities in the various components of the transport sector, including road, rail, river, sea and air? What measures are envisaged in telecommunications and ICT to bridge the digital divide? How can regional energy policies be rationalized? What decision-making structures are required for effective planning and management in these sectors? What financing mechanisms should be contemplated for both private and public sector funds?

Plenary Session 6: Economic Policies for Accelerating Regional Integration

Chair:  Linah K.Mohohlo, Central Bank Governor, Botswana

Presenter:   Konan Banny, Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO)

Discussant: Delphin Rwegasira.,Excutive Director African Economic Research Consortioum

Economic and monetary union is one of the aims of the African Union. The Constitutive Act of the AU commits Africa to setting up the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund and the African Investment Bank (Article 19), alongside the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (Article 22). Current African development initiatives perceive integration in the context of effective macroeconomic management and corporate governance, and enhanced partnership between Africa’s best performers and international development partners. This entails promotion of increased regional trade and also convergence of monetary policies. The removal of barriers between national markets will increase efficiency and help attract foreign investment. Some subregions have already taken significant steps in this direction. This session will begin with a comprehensive presentation on these issues.

In what ways will good macroeconomic management facilitate economic integration, and vice versa? How is fiscal and monetary discipline to be maintained at a supra-national level? What are the implications of diverse economic performance for integration? What are the priorities for the private sector? How can government revenues be maintained while trade barriers are dismantled? Is existing subregional integration a stepping- stone to regional integration? How does regional integration contribute to Africa’s position in a globalized economy?

Plenary Session 7: Peace and Security Architecture

Chair:     Kamel Morjane, Assistant High Commissioner, UNHCR

Presenter:     Salim Ahmed Salim, former Secretary-General, OAU

Discussants: Lansana Kouyate, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Ibrahim Gambari, UN Assistant Secretary-General

Peace and security are absolute prerequisites for regional integration. There are many complex issues to be addressed. Are some of Africa’s conflicts, including those in the Great Lakes and the Horn, partly attributable to the absence of effective structures for regional peace and security? Can we identify a firm or evolving consensus on a mechanism for guiding Africa’s peace and security efforts? Is the current system workable, whereby peace-related efforts are mostly undertaken at a subregional level? How are the AU and CSSDCA to work together in this area with an effective division of labour? How are they to relate to subregional organizations? What are the roles for Africa’s most powerful States? How should the economic dimensions of conflict be addressed? What should be the modalities for post-conflict reconstruction?

The presenter and discussants will examine current modalities for peacemaking at a subregional, regional and UN level, and how these may be enhanced and integrated within the AU. There will be opportunity for inputs based on the conclusions of the African Union Symposium.

Plenary Session 8: Building an Effective African Union

Chair:     Simba Makoni, Minister of Finance, Zimbabwe

Presenter:     Said Djinnit, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, OAU

Discussants: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Senior Advisor, Modern Africa Fund Managers

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, General Secretary, Pan-African Movement

Establishing the African Union will make considerable demands on the existing institutional and financial infrastructure. The Constitutive Act of the AU specifies a range of institutions, but not an action plan for prioritizing their establishment and functioning. A comprehensive presentation will focus on the AU vision, the functional architecture of the AU, the building of capacities in the AU and subregional organizations, and the financing of the AU Commission.

The AU is the most ambitious political programme for Africa since independence. What is the model being followed, and how does it reflect specifically African experiences and aspirations? What is the timing and sequencing of the establishment of the institutions? How should the AU sensitize and engage a wider group of stakeholders, such as civil society, in the AU institutions? How will the AU further democracy and human rights? How do national governments see compatibility between the AU and their national interests? What are the roles for other institutions such as the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the African Inter-Parliamentary Union? How is progress towards the AU to be monitored and evaluated?

Plenary Session 9: Heads of State Presentations

Chair:  Amara Essy, Secretary-General, OAU

Presenters: Heads of State and Government

This session will be an opportunity for the invited Heads of State and Government to present their vision and plans for regional economic and political integration.

Parallel Closed Session: Priorities for Implementation

Co-chairs:     Lalla Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, ECA

Said Djinnit, Assistant Secretary-General, OAU

This will be a closed session in which selected representatives of the Focus Groups, regional organizations, RECs, selected governments and experts will discuss the key findings from the Forum, and prepare and approve a final declaration for ADF III. This session will be conducted in parallel with plenary session 9.

Plenary Session 10: Heads of State Forum

Chair/moderator:      K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary, ECA

Panels:               Heads of State and Government

Representatives of seven stakeholder Focus Groups

In this plenary, representatives of the six stakeholder Focus Groups will have the opportunity to ask questions of the Heads of State and Government about their views on how integration should proceed in Africa. The session will help to articulate the political concerns about integration and the ways in which stakeholders and governments can be engaged in supporting the process of regional integration.

Closing Session: The Way Forward

Co-chairs:     K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary, ECA

Amara Essy, Secretary-General, OAU

The final session will consist of a presentation of the final Declaration and Plan of Action from ADF III, and discussion of recommendations for the June 2002 Summit to inaugurate the African Union in Pretoria South Africa.

Stakeholder Focus Groups

ADF experience underlines the benefits of organizing stakeholder Focus Groups as an integral part of the forum. These groups can provide crosscutting analysis and advocacy, and can ensure that key interest groups are able to make sustained and constructive inputs into the forum and its outcome. These groups can be key instruments for post-forum follow-up activities. Focus Groups also help ensure the widest possible ownership of the final outcome.

Focus Groups have a more integrated role in ADF III than in the previous forums. Each Focus Group will convene a breakout session to present itself, its analysis and aims, and to receive inputs from other conference participants and experts. This is designed to maximize their interaction with the main conference and to ensure the best possible output.

Each Focus Group will be tasked with preparing its recommendations for presentation in plenary session 10 (the Heads of State Forum). This will take the form of a written statement that can be tabled and specific questions in the Heads of State Forum.

The following Focus Groups will convene during ADF III:

1. Private sector

This is a stakeholder group of businessmen, including both Africans and non-Africans who invest in Africa. This group will identify the private sector’s priorities for regional integration, and evaluate current efforts against these priorities.

Convenor: Africa Business Roundtable

2. Civil society

This is a stakeholder group drawn from a wide range of CSOs concerned with development issues, including poverty reduction, social service provision, human rights, etc. It will identify the role to be played by civil society in promoting and influencing regional integration.

Convenor: Jalal Abdel Latif, InterAfrica Group.

3. Youth

Young people are stakeholders in the future. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will help convene a group of African youth to participate and make their voices heard in ADF III. The group will advocate the interests of young people.

Convenor: Nankali Maksoud, UNICEF.

4. Parliamentarians

This stakeholder group of elected representatives will be drawn from across Africa. It will focus on the future development of a Pan-African Parliament, the relationships between democratization and regional integration and how the two can be utilized to strengthen one another.

Convenor: Ibrahim Fall, Inter-African Parliamentary Union.

5. Information and communications technologies (ICTs)

This is a stakeholder/expert group formed by Partnership for Information and Communication Technologies in Africa, i.e. the existing working group on ICTs. This group will examine and promote the role of ICTs in all aspects of regional integration.

Convenor: Karima Bounemra, Development Information Services Division (DSID) - ECA.

6. HIV/AIDS

This is a group of stakeholders that comprises persons living with HIV/AIDS and persons engaged in HIV/AIDS programmes and activities, and experts concerned with HIV/AIDS. It will seek to ensure that response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic remains at the forefront of the development and integration agenda.

Convenor: Ugandan PLWA

7. Human rights and the law

The protection and realization of human rights is one of the fundamentals for achieving development, democracy and stability. Africa faces the challenge of cementing its regional human rights mechanism. This includes encouraging more governments to sign and ratify human rights conventions and to establish mechanisms for ensuring conformity to the requirements. As Africa heads towards integration, national legislation should be in conformity with international standards of human rights, and national judicial procedures should be consonant with the procedures of regional and international bodies. Special attention needs to be paid to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and to the proposed African Court on Human and People’s Rights. Are existing procedures adequate for protecting citizens’ rights? What extra capacity do national and regional bodies need? How should African institutions fit in with their international counterparts? Or should the priority be realization of human rights at the local and national level?

Members of each Focus Group will meet before the main conference to make preparations. They will appoint a chairperson and a rapporteur tasked with preparing the final statement, and designate members to attend breakout sessions and report to the group.

The first breakout sessions will be panel discussions convened by the Focus Groups. This will be an opportunity for each group to outline its agenda, its relationship to the AU and NEPAD, its interest and concerns for regional integration, and its hopes for the outcome of ADF III. This will also be an opportunity for other participants in the ADF to familiarize themselves with the Focus Groups and to contribute to substantive discussions on the core issues of concern.

Subsequently, each Focus Group will be expected to send one member to each breakout session in rounds 2 and 3, to report to a daily summary and strategy meeting of the Focus Group. These meetings will also draft the group’s final statement and the questions to pose to the Heads of State Forum on the final day.

Breakout Sessions

Three rounds of breakout sessions are scheduled. These will allow smaller groups to discuss key issues in greater depth. Each breakout session will have a chairperson and a rapporteur assigned by ECA to prepare a summary of discussions and recommendations, which will be made available to conference participants in the daily report, and tabled. Note that round 1 sessions will have two rapporteurs: the conference rapporteur who prepares a report on the discussion, and the Focus Group’s own designated rapporteur who will prepare a final report for presentation on the final day. Each breakout session will consist of a short (10 minute) presentation followed by remarks from one or two discussants, and open discussion.

The first round of breakout sessions centers on the Focus Groups. In each case, a member of the group will present the analysis and viewpoint of the stakeholders concerned, followed by remarks by discussants.

The confidence and engagement of the private sector is key to the success of regional economic integration. How does the private sector assess the AU and development partnership initiatives? How does it evaluate its involvement with these initiatives to date? How can the AU best promote investment and trade?

Is there a pan-African civil society? What can be done to establish or strengthen civil society linkages across Africa? What relationship does civil society seek with the AU? How should human rights be promoted and protected within these initiatives? What should be the role of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights?

Youth are critical to any initiatives for Africa, yet there seem to be few mechanisms for including them in processes such as the AU and NEPAD. What are the views and priorities of young people? How can they be consulted and included?

Deepening democracy should be an integral component of effective regional political integration, and Article 17 of the Constitutive Act of the AU calls for a Pan-African Parliament. What subregional parliamentary experience is there to learn from? How can democratization and regional integration be pursued in a mutually supportive manner? How should the Pan-African Parliament be established?

ICTs are at the forefront of regional integration and can play a major role in promoting and realizing the AU and enhanced development partnership. How is this to be achieved? What are the priorities for investment in ICTs?

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is the single greatest threat to Africa in the coming decades. It is a region-wide threat that demands coordinated regional action at all levels. How should the AU and development initiatives incorporate measures to overcome HIV/AIDS? How can the pandemic be tackled at a regional level?

Members of this Focus Group will sensitize the participants on the need to pay special attention to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and to the proposed African Court on Human and People’s Rights. They will also critically examine the adequacy of existing procedures for protecting citizens’ rights and how African institutions fit in with their international counterparts. They will thus ensure that the realization of human rights both at the national and local level becomes a matter of priority.

This round will be based upon plenary sessions 5 and 6. The six breakout sessions will concentrate on:

How will governments achieve convergence of macroeconomic policies at subregional (REC) level and at the continental level? How can national macroeconomic policies be enhanced and made more consistent with convergence targets?

Presenter: Alemayehu Geda Addis Ababa University

Chair : Ms. Luisa Dias Diogo, Minister of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Mozambique

What are the priorities for trade policies to promote integration? What are the options for free trade areas, customs unions and for common markets? How can factor mobility (goods and services, people, and capital) be promoted to Africa’s advantage? How should these relate to the international trade regime?

Presenters: Mr. Bijit Bora, Counsellor, World Trade Organization, Geneva

Chair: Professor Ademola Oyejide, Director, Trade Policy Research and Training Programme, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

What are the priorities for physical infrastructure, in transport, communications and energy? What should be the conceptual framework for agreeing, designing and implementing regional infrastructural projects, taking into account the need to enhance Africa’s global competitiveness? How are these projects to be financed, utilizing national banks, ADB, World Bank and the private sector?

Presenters: Ms. Mary Vonne Plessis Fraissard, Transport Sector Manager for Africa, World Bank, Washington

Chair: His Excellency, Mr. Silas Kanamugire, Minister of Transport, Public Works and Communication, Kigali, Rwanda

How should Africa’s higher education and research priorities be defined? What is the role of the university in Africa in the 21^st century? What is the role for regional cooperation in establishing centres of excellence in higher education, scientific research and public policy analysis? How should higher education be financed and how should it be linked to international universities?

Presenter: Chuku-Emeka Chikezie, AFFORD

Chair: Dr. Abdelghaffar M. Ahmed, Executive Secretary, OSSREA, Addis Ababa

Any moves towards regional integration entail a probable loss of revenue for national governments, alongside increased expenditure on institutional capacity building in order to implement AU and governance commitments. How are government revenues to be sustained in these circumstances? What alternative sources of revenue exist? Will debt relief and increased external assistance be sufficient? What special needs do small countries have?

Presenter: Mr. Charles Soludo, Economist, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Chair: Ambassador Lawrence Okolio Chikezie Agubuzu, Assistant Secretary-General, Community Affairs Department, Organization of African Unity, Addis Ababa

Regional integration stands or falls on private sector investment. How can this be promoted? How can African countries cooperate to attract foreign direct investment (FDI)? What should be the policy towards intra-regional investment, e.g. by South African businesses elsewhere in Africa? What is the role of regional capital markets and how can these be expanded?

Presenter: Mr. Ermias Amelga, Member of the East African Enterprise Network, Addis Ababa

Chair: Mr. Steve Cashin, Managing Director, Modern Africa Fund Managers

This round will be based upon plenary sessions 7 and 8. The seven breakout sessions will concentrate on:

The AU and regional economic integration require institutional capacity building at both national and regional level. What should be the priorities to ensure that appropriate capacities are built, so that treaty obligations are implemented? How are these capacities to be built without undermining other governance requirements?

Presenters: Professor Ali M. El-Agraa, Professor of International Economics, Faculty of Commerce, Japan

Chair: Monsieur Mohamed Amamou, Secrétaire général, Union du Maghreb arabe (UMA), Maroc

3.2 Creating political backing for integration

Popular pan-Africanist sentiment exists across the continent, but so far the processes of political and economic integration have been state-led and there is a recognized need for involving other stakeholders. How is political and popular support for the AU and regional economic integration to be promoted? What is the role of subregional and regional parliaments and parliamentary associations? What is the role of civil society? How can the private sector organize to promote effective regional integration?

Presenters: Professor Ahmed Samatar, Political Science Department, Macalester College, Pennsylvania, USA

Chair: Ms. Marie Angelique Savane, Former UNFPA Africa Regional Director.

Small States are often losers in integration processes, but there is experience from southern Africa and elsewhere in the world with mechanisms to ensure that small countries do not lose their identities in the process of integration. How should these lessons be applied?

Presenter: Ambassador Vijay S. Makhan, Assistant Secretary-General, Organization of African Unity, Addis Ababa

Chair: Loius Sylvain-Goma ECCAS.

The adherence of African countries to regional commitments has so far fallen short. What lessons are to be learned from the implementation or non-implementation of treaty obligations to economic integration? What mechanisms can be developed to encourage adherence? What sanctions can be applied to non-performers?

Presenter: Mr. Kifle Wodajo, Director, Horn of Africa Peace Center, Addis Ababa

Chair: Ms. Kadie Sesay, Minister of Development and Economic Planning, Ministry of Development and Economic Planning, Freetown, Sierra Leone

International organizations have a complex architecture at subregional level, supra-regional level (e.g. Arab League, Commonwealth) and UN level. How is the AU to relate to these different organizations? What tasks are best performed at which levels? Are there benefits to the current state of ambiguity?

Presenter: Ambassador Sam B. Ibok, Director, Political Affairs Department, Organization of African Unity (OAU), Addis Ababa

Chair: Mr. Attala Hamed Bashir, Executive Secretary, Inter Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), Djibouti

Establishing the AU and economic integration requires harmonization of citizenship laws, promoting the free movement of labour, and dismantling discrimination of all kinds. This is a challenge for many African nations. How is this agenda to be conceptualized and pursued? What are the roles of regional judicial and parliamentary institutions in this regard?

Presenter: Chidi Odinkalu, Interights.

Chair: Ms. Mary Chinery-Hesse, Former ILO Africa Regional Director

3 - 8 March 2002, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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