97. The following organizations made presentations: IDEP, ESAMI, COMESA, OAU, SADC and MEPC.

98. Dr. Samuel A. Ochola, Director of the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), made a presentation on the activities of the Institute, which is based in Dakar, Senegal. Since its establishment in 1962, IDEP has continued to assist African countries in capacity building. Among the programme activities of the Institute, which are interdependent are: training; research; consultancy and advisory services; workshops, seminars, conferences and public lectures; and documentation and publications. The training component includes: MA Degree on Economic Policy Analysis and Management.

99. In the implementation of its activities, IDEP has established institutional collaboration arrangements with a number of universities, training institutions, research institutions, UN Agencies, as well as international and regional institutions involved in economic development. In conclusion, Dr. Ochola urged member States to send representatives to the training programmes which the institute has planned to hold during 2001. These are on: Economic Cooperation and Integration, Training of Trainers on Innovative Management (PPP) and for Portuguese-speaking countries on Agricultural Project Preparation, Evaluation and Implementation.

100. The representative of ESAMI gave a background on the structure of ESAMI, and the presentation focused on the restructuring of the Institute particularly the establishment of four Directorates namely: Management Training; Consultancy and Customerised Training Programmes; Research and Publications; and the Business School. These Directorates were created to give more focus on the implementation of its tripartite mandate of applied management research, consultancy and management training. Activities of each of the four Directorates were outlined, including the vision, mission, objectives and strategies.

101. ESAMI/UNECA/SRDC cooperation had been going on for the past twenty years mainly in the area of Management Development. ESAMI continued to invite ECA experts in various areas. The most notable ones have been in Transport and Infrastructure Programmes - especially: Transport Policy and Planning; Rural Transport Services; and Road and Traffic Safety Management. Further consultations would be undertaken on this matter. ECA had also continued to invite ESAMI to present papers at the UN African Road Safety Congresses. ESAMI participated at the 2nd and 3rd Congress held in 1989 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Pretoria in 1996 respectively. ESAMI also participates in the UNECA African Centre for Women (ACW) programme of activities. UNECA invites ESAMI to undertake consultancy assignments. In the recent past (1998) ESAMI has conducted a Skills Audit for UNECA. There was a lot of scope of enhancing cooperation between ESAMI and the UNECA/SRDC/SA.

102. The representative of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) informed the meeting that collaboration with ECA/SRDC-SA had intensified in the last few years, particularly in the areas of gender in development, transport and communications, mining and in the preparation of SADC Annual Report. She indicated that both institutions were working closely towards engendering of the SADC HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework and Programme 2000-2004. In the area of mining, the SADC representative commended ECA for the study undertaken on Investment Promotion for Small Scale Mining Enterprises. She however, expressed concern that the study only covered few SADC member States. She therefore requested ECA to broaden the study to other SADC member States.

103. She noted that the following areas needed further collaboration between ECA and SADC: preparation of the SADC Annual Report 2001/2002; restructuring of the SADC Secretariat, which would involve revision of the Treaty; studies on regional indicative development plan; and the establishment of a Regional Development Fund.

104. The Assistant Secretary General of the OAU in charge of Community Affairs Department, Ambassador Lawrence Agubuzu, provided an overview on ECA/OAU co-operation in Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the SRDC-SA. He noted the important role of the ECA/OAU/ADB Joint Secretariat of AEC in supporting socio-economic development activities on the continent. He pointed out that sometimes this relationship was hampered because African leaders and policy-makers pursued policies which were not properly understood by the people and were not effectively implemented to make a difference in the welfare of the citizens.

105. The Assistant Secretary General challenged that Africa did not produce enough, either in primary commodities or otherwise, to effectively participate in a competitive global market. While there was a need to increase the provision of education to close the technological gap, he concluded by stressing the need for a deeper reflection on Africa's development priorities and strategies so that educated Africans could use their education to contribute to Africa's development and to improve the lot of the people.

106. In the discussion participants alluded to the need to re-examine Africa's development strategies.

107. The Representative from COMESA presented a document entitled "Collaboration between ECA and COMESA". Since establishment of PTA, COMESA had always enjoyed full support and extensive collaboration of ECA in areas of transport, industry, monetary matters, gender and capacity building. Recently, ECA assisted COMESA in the Restructuring and Reorganization exercise and study on Self-Financing Scheme. The work towards establishment of the African Economic Community (AEC) is another area of co-operation.

108. Over the years, SRDC-SA designed work programmes which addressed the needs of subregional organizations, including COMESA, which is also supportive of recent ECA initiatives such as the Global Compact with Africa and the ADF 2001. COMESA identified priority activities for close collaboration with the Centre, namely, assessment of the impact of FTA, operationalisation of the common external tariff, tax policy harmonization, infrastructure development, women in business (WIB) and gender policy.

109. In response to questions of coverage of COMESA activities, the representative of COMESA informed the meeting that in general most of its programmes were for implementation in all its member States. The exception to the preceeding were those programmes, such as the African Trade Insurance Programme, which needed special accession to and were open to non-member States. The meeting noted the report.

110. The Director of the Minerals and Energy Policy Centre (MEPC), Dr. Wilfred Lombe, presented a report on areas of collaboration with ECA. He reported on past, present and planned activities in minerals and energy development. He stated that MEPC intended to collaborate with ECA in the following areas: research to support development and harmonization of robust policies and strategies; promotion of regional cooperation and integration; capacity building and stakeholder engagement to support sustainable development of minerals and energy resources; and sharing of intellectual and information resources. In order to formalize the cooperation, the Centre prepared a draft Memorandum of Understanding for consideration by ECA.

111. The meeting reiterated the importance of including private based organizations in the activities of the SRDC and commended the SRDC for inviting MEPC to the meeting.