Meeting in Addis Ababa in May 1996, the ECA Conference of Ministers responsible for economic development and planning reviewed the action framework to build Africa's information and communication infrastructure prepared by the High Level Working Group on Information and Communication Technologies and endorsed it as the "African Information Society Initiative (AISI)".
Dr. Hisham el Sherif, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Information and Decision Support Centre, and Chair of the High Level Working Group, presented the action framework to the Conference of Ministers on 5 May. The Group, which had been constituted in 1995 following Conference of Ministers resolution 795 (XXX) which directed the Executive Secretary to set up a high-level working group on information technologies and communications in Africa made up of African technical experts with a view to preparing a plan of action in this field.
In endorsing the Initiative the Conference of Ministers requested ECA member States to incorporate the African Information Society Initiative in their national development plans according to national needs and priorities. They also asked ECA to investigate the possibility of using AISI as a guiding framework for the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa priority area of Harnessing Information Technology for Development. In the Ministers' resolution 812 (XXXI) on the implementation of AISI adopted on 7 May, ECA was requested to establish a gender-balanced African technical committee to advise on programmes and projects and to evaluate results in conjunction with the Initiative.
The Initiative starts with a presentation of a vision of an African Information Society in the year 2010, where:
The action framework details strategic objectives and related goals of the Initiative. A major chapter deals with challenges and opportunities for African's development through the growth of an Information society, with particular attention to the sectors of health, education and research, culture, trade and commerce, tourism, food security, gender and development, man - made crises and natural disasters. The components of an African Information Society that are articulated are institutional framework and legal, regulatory and management mechanism; human resources, information resources ("infostructure") and technological resources (infrastructure).
The framework also suggests national programmes for implementing the AISI. The Initiative was endorsed by African Ministers of Telecommunications meeting in Abidjan at the Africa Regional Telecommunications for Development Conference the week following the meeting of the Conference of Ministers.
Copies of the AISI, which includes a forward by the ECA Executive Secretary Mr. K.Y. Amoako and a listing of the members of the High Level Working Group is available from PADIS at the address listed. (E-mail queries are welcome; the text can be sent as file attached to a reply message).
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) represented all the regional Commissions of the United Nations at the G7/Developing Countries' Conference on the Information Society and Development (ISAD) held in Midrand, South Africa from 13-17 May 1996. Mr. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the ECA, Ms. Nancy J. Hafkin, Officer-in-charge of PADIS, and Mr. Makane Faye, Regional Adviser on Information Systems Development at PADIS, comprised the ECA delegation at the South African Conference.
The objective of the Conference was to launch a dialogue between a cross-section of countries with different social, economic and cultural patterns, with the aim of facilitating the integration of developing countries in the global information society. The G7 countries (Canada, France, Britain, the United States, Italy, Germany, and Japan) were joined by industrialised and developing countries from all over the world, including 14 African countries, to make up the total of 40 invited countries.
Mr. Amoako stated in his keynote address that Africa should take advantage of starting late in the information age. The continent should profit from the experience of others, and avoid obvious teething problems. Policy choice, which most governments face now, is crucial for the creation of an inclusive rather than an exclusive information society. `We [Africans] must not self-marginalise, and we must demonstrate that we are worthy producers of information. In building Africa's information society, the information content area is as important as the physical infrastructure' Mr. Amoako said in his keynote address.
Dr. Amoako introduced a framework for informatics planning called the African Information Society Initiative, put together by the ECA Conference of Ministers, which includes among its aims information and knowledge empowerment for all sectors of society. A report of Mr. Amoako's keynote address, including a number of other ECA documents leading up to its African Information Society Initiative, have been published by the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC) in its volume entitled; `Nationalism, Regionalism, and Globalism in Building the Global Information Society'. Copies of this report are available upon request at PADIS at the address listed on page 1, or from GIIC at: The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, 1800 K Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20006, USA. Or, E-mail at: giic_secretariat@csis.org.
PADIS took a preparatory mission to Bireme in Sao Paolo, Brazil from 1-6 April 1996 in conjunction with its CD-ROM for African Development (CDAD). PADIS staff members in the mission were Makane Faye, Regional Adviser in Information Systems Development and Lambert Hogenhout, Associate Expert. Preparation and manufacturing of a CD-ROM made up of information from Africa and on Africa is one of the priority areas of ECA's focus on its programme on Harnessing Information Technology for Development.
Bibliotheca Regional da Medicina (BIREME), under the umbrella of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), is known worldwide for its activities on CD-ROM mastering. ECA learned about BIREME's activities during the International CDS/ISIS Congress held in June 1995 in Bogota, Colombia which Mr. Faye attended. The PADIS Standing Committee on the Harmonisation and Standardisation of Documentation and Information Systems in Africa has discussed development of a CD-ROM for African countries.
For the development of the first CDAD, fifteen African countries have offered to contribute information from their bibliographic, experts and institutions data bases, as well as statistical and full text data, thus making the CDAD unique. The main activities of the mission were to prepare technical input, mainly data reformatting and interface authoring and definition of search and display parameters which would enable the CD-ROM to be left at BIREME at the premastering stage for further mastering, preparation of the gold disc and pressing. All ECA member States and African institutions will be invited to contribute information to the second edition of CDAD which is expected to be manufactured by BIREME before the end of 1996.
With the increasing role of information and documentation services in development, the need arises for the exchange of information between such systems at national, regional and international levels, using a minimum set of common standards and methodologies. PADIS organised a workshop for the Eastern and Southern African Development Information System (ESADIS) together with other Zambian Institutions in Lusaka from 16-26 April 1996 as an introduction to adopting some of the standards developed by PADIS to other centres within the subregion. The course was conducted by Mr. Francis Inganji, PADIS Training coordinator, Mr. Frew Dubale, Senior Information Assistant and the ESADIS staff. Participants were drawn from various national and subregional institutions in Zambia.
The PADIS Standing Committee on the Harmonisation and Standardisation of Information Systems in Africa was set up in 1989 and has developed and adopted a series of standards including guidelines, manuals and computerised programmes for textual data base development and on-line authority file preparations.
The most pertinent topics covered by the workshop include:
An advisory mission to Libreville, Gabon, to assist in mapping out a strategy for setting up E-mail and the Internet in Central Africa took place from 22-26 April 1996. Mr. Makane Faye attended the meeting organised by UNESCO, focusing on electronic network building in nine Central African countries: Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo and Zaire.
In 1994, PADIS helped set up an electronic networking node known as CAMFIDO (Cameroon Fido Network) which was set up at the University of Yaounde. CAMFIDO operates within the Capacity Building in Electronic Networking in Africa (CABECA) PADIS project. The subregion is not well connected and the mission report recommends regular consultations within the countries and at a subregional level. CAMFIDO will take the lead in bringing electronic connectivity to Central Africa, the least connected area of the least connected continent.
PADIS officer Mr. Makane Faye undertook a mission to Mali from 27-30 May 1996 to investigate the establishment of a national electronic network. The mission was undertaken with the help of Mrs. Fatou Aydara, Minister of Industry, Labour and Tourism, with whom discussions took place concerning the establishment of a national information plan and a national workshop to be held in August.
The information plan for Mali proposes a plan of action composed of twenty projects covering the management of information systems, with the following areas receiving priority: economics and finance, the public office, statistics, post and telecommunications, and the Office of the President. It was decided that an ECA expert would spend a month (starting in early July) in the capital, Bamako, to evaluate the Mali information plan, and develop a new plan incorporating new technologies and global exchange.
A training course on computerised documentation and the use of the Micro - CDS/ISIS software package took place from 10-21 June 1996 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PADIS conducted a course on the above subject with the following course content:
Participants were drawn from ECA Library staff, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the Ethiopian Civil Service College, and the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF). Altogether twelve participants attended the training course. The course was conducted by Mr. Francis Inganji, Training coordinator at PADIS; Mr. Saddik Solbi, Systems Development Officer at PADIS; Ms. Petrina Amonoo ECA Librarian; Mr. Frew Dubale, and Ms. Bethlehem Teshagar, Senior Information Assistants at PADIS.
Mr. Lishan Adam represented PADIS at the Internet Society's annual conference held from 17-29 June 1996 in Montreal, Canada. Representatives from 30 African countries, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe met to discuss issues related to Internet technology, standards, cultural and social aspects of Internet connectivity and Internet Protocol (IP) diffusion. In addition to its annual meeting, the Internet society holds annual workshops for countries at an early stage of Internet working. The workshop for developing countries was held at Mc-Gill University, and Mr. Adam attended the Backbone Internet Working Technologies track which focused on advanced technologies such as routing and firewalls. The materials produced are useful to PADIS' training in networking technologies in Africa, and it allowed the mission to understand the basics of Internet working technologies. The mission also attended a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) workshop, as well as paid a visit to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington.
A PADIS mission left for the Department of Library and Archival studies at the University of Ghana in Accra represented by the PADIS training programme coordinator, Francis Inganji. The mission took place from 24-28 June 1996 with the following aims: to introduce modern techniques of handling information where needed to determine the training needs of the staff; to determine training material needed; and to prepare training material according to recommendations made at the previous Gaberone Workshop. The mission resulted from a recommendation that PADIS work closely with universities teaching library and information science during a workshop for University lecturers organised by PADIS and held in Gaberone, Botswana in December 1994.
The PADIS mission reviewed the two-year Master degree programme in the Department of Library and Archival studies, and the Department agreed to make changes in the course introducing Information Technology and related subjects. It was also recommended that funds be mobilised from donors for the introduction of a computer laboratory; that PADIS send all necessary available training material; that PADIS make efforts to access funds for the training of lecturers; and that two department lecturers contribute towards future PADIS textbooks.
THE ETHIOPIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY CONFERENCE
The Ethiopian Scientific Society (ESS) Conference on the Telecommunications and Information Age took place at the World Bank in Washington on 2 July 1996. Mr. Lishan Adam, Networking Project Officer at PADIS, presented two papers on behalf of ECA: `The Addis Ababa Symposium and Africa on the Information Superhighway: Assessment' and `The development of human resources for the Information and Communication age in Ethiopia'. The ESS presented Mr. Lishan Adam with a special award recognising his contribution to networking in Africa and pioneer efforts in setting up network connectivity in Africa.
While in Washington, Mr. Adam met with officials of the United States State Department, and in particular officials of the Leland Initiative, with an emphasis on discussions of the Greater Horn of Africa Electronic Network Project.
Copies of the ESS papers are available at PADIS at the address listed on page 1, or on the PADIS horn-net. This information is also available at the following URL: http://www.seas.gwu.edu/student/damenam OR http://www.ctr.columbia.edu/~nemo/ess
ELECTRONIC NETWORKS IN AFRICA
In June 1996 the second, revised edition of the `User's guide to electronic networks in Africa' was published by the Sub-Saharan Africa programme of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Much has changed since the 1994 publication of the guide. The Internet has finally arrived in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, (besides Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and South Africa) Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe have obtained fully-fledged Internet access. In addition, there is an increasing number of commercial Internet service providers and ambitious donor-sponsored Internet projects, whereas initially virtually all networking projects were University- or NGO-based Fidonet systems. At the same time there has also been a considerable growth in the dial-up store-and-forward world of Fidonet and UUCP. While most of the Fido hosts showed growth in the number of users, several new networks have adopted the UUCP protocol. As the standards (addressing, mail format, etc.) of this store-and-forward networking protocol match those of Internet, a transition to Internet requires little retraining of users and technical staff, and will therefore be relatively seamless.
The publication includes the basics of electronic networks, a glossary, listings of all electronic networking initiatives in 35 African countries, and a general overview of African electronic networking. Information such as a brief description of services, training and support, fees, and contact addresses are provided.
The text is available online at URL: http://www.aaas.org/international/Africa-guide/index.html, or through the Sub-Saharan Africa program, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005 USA; fax 1-202-289-4958; e-mail: Africa@aaas.org. The hard copy is intended primarily for those, especially in Africa, who do not yet have access to the World Wide Web (WWW).
INFORMATION SOCIETY TRENDS
The European Union's Information Society Project Office provides a bimonthly newsletter `Information Society Trends' via email and the World Wide Web. It contains information on Information Technology related services, products, markets, companies, legislation, policies, and technology issues. Each `story' is no longer than a sentence or two which allows the readers to quickly keep up with worldwide developments. Each issue contains worldwide news broken down by geographical area. Unfortunately, minor attention is being paid to Africa.
To subscribe send an email message to: Majordomo@www.ispo.cec.be. In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE ISTRENDS your email address. A complete, browsable archive is kept on URL http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/press.html.
ACCESSING INTERNET BY E-MAIL
Even without direct access to the Internet it is possible to make use of facilities such as ftp, gopher, archie, veronica, finger, usenet, whois, wais, and the World Wide Web. By sending simple email messages you can access almost any Internet resource. The only prerequisite is that you should be able to send an email message to an Internet address.
Bob Rankin's guide `Accessing the Internet by Email, Doctor Bob's Guide to Offline Internet Access' describes which email messages you have to send where. This document is available from several automated mail servers. To get the latest edition, send an email message to one of the addresses below.
To: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk (for Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt
To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (for US, Canada & South America) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
You can also get the file by anonymous FTP at one of these sites:
Site: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu
get pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
Site: mailbase.ac.uk
get pub/lists/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt
EASTERN, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICAN LIBRARIANS
The Lesotho Library Association will host the 12th Standing Conference of East, Central and Southern African Librarians (SCECSAL) on the 9 to 13 December 1996 in Maseru, Lesotho. The main theme will be Libraries and Information Services in the 21st Century. Sub-themes are Technology Applications, Networking, Professional Associations, Sectoral Information Systems, Professional Training of Personnel, and Publishing and Bibliographic Control.
Contact persons are Mrs. M.M. Chadzingwa (email: mmc@doc.isas.nul.ls) and Mrs. M. Mukela (email: muk@lib.nul.ls). Postal address: National University of Lesotho, P.O. Roma 180, Lesotho, Tel: 266 340601, Fax: 266 340000.
FID 1996 CONFERENCE AND CONGRESS
The International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), ÖGDI and JOANNEUM RESEARCH are organising the 48th FID Conference and Congress on Globalization of Information - The Networking Information Society, on 23-25 October 1996, in Graz, Austria. Advanced technologies, the role of the information professional, regional and cultural accommodations and the impact on a global business environment will be explored. The main congress will be preceded by pre-congress seminars from 20-22 October.
The latest information on the Conference and Congress is available on the World Wide Web on URL http://ima023.joanneum.ac.at/fid.htm. Contact addresses are: Joanneum Research, FID 1996, Elisabethstrasse 11, A-8010 Graz, Austria, Europe. Tel: 43 316 876334 / 876335, Fax: 43 316 876320, Email: fid@pbox.joanneum.ac.at and FID Secretariat, P.O. Box 90402, NL-2509 LK The Hague, The Netherlands, Tel: 31 70 3140671, Fax: 31 70 3140667, Email: secretariat@fid.nl.
THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
Those in the information field in Africa need to be aware of the ideas of Peter Drucker on "Knowledge work and knowledge society: the social transformation of this century." According to Prof. Drucker "knowledge workers" are becoming the leading group in post-industrial society in developed countries. By definition the knowledge worker gains access to work, job and social position through formal education, although this education will not necessarily be acquired through formal schooling, because so many skills and so much knowledge can be acquired through new learning technologies.
Of particular interest to developing countries is the idea that the knowledge society will become far more competitive than any previous society. With universally accessible knowledge, nonperformance is no longer an excuse. "There will be no poor countries. There will only be ignorant countries."
Copies of Prof. Drucker's address at the Kennedy school of government, Harvard University; "knowledge work and knowledge society: The Social Transformation of this Century" is available upon request from PADIS.
AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
In the beginning of 1996 the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), The Netherlands, and the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) organized a two-week course on Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) for agriculture. The course was devoted to techniques of "selling" an SDI service, to its organization and management, and to a step-by-step approach to setting up a service. Finally, the participants actually set up a programme for five WARDA scientists and for staff of the Savanna Institute (IDESSA - Institut des Savannes) at Bouaké. There were 13 participants from Benin, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo. A course for English-speaking countries was organised for June/July 1996.
Contact address: CTA, Postbus 380, 6700 AJ Wageningen, The Netherlands. Tel: 31 317 467100, fax: 31 317 460067.
IGAD CONFERENCE
The secretariat of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) located in Djibouti has developed a project to strengthen library and documentation services in IGAD member states in response to the situation that information on environmental protection remains largely inaccessible and unexploited. The project aims to create a regional network of major libraries and documentation centres in the member States, based on national information nodes.
IGAD organized a meeting in Kampala in October 1995 to discuss the information situation in member countries and the proposed project. A report presented to that meeting details country-by-country information situations.
Copies of reports of the meeting are available from Ms. Juliet Kamara, IGAD Secretariat, P.O.Box 2653, Djibouti, Tel: (253) 354050/352880; Fax: (253) 356994/356284
DISTANCE EDUCATION DATABASE
Institutions in developing countries can obtain a free copy of the International Centre for Distance Learning distance education database on CD-ROM. The database contains information on 28,000 distance-taught courses and programmes, 800 distance teaching institutions and 6500 references to the theory and practice of distance education.
Online access is also available to the database.
Further information on these options is available from ICDL, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK 7 6 AA, United Kingdom. E-mail enquiries can be sent to icde-enquiries@opin.ac.uk or d.p albin@open.ac.uk.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN CAMEROON
In an article on "The Strategy of Documentary Information Management in Cameroon" (La Stratégie de gestion de l'information en milieu documentaire au Cameroun" in L'ecluse (vol. 6, no.4, 1994, pp 9-10), Louis Ndjoh Tchimi states that neither the public nor the private sector in Cameroon has realised the value of information in planning.
This attitude is obviously not favourable to the establishment of documentation centres, despite Cameroon's relatively large numbers of trained personnel in this realm. The author, who is attached to the Library of the University of Yaounde, however, is optimistic about the future of information management in Cameroon due to a number of factors, including the establishment of a Ministry of culture.
HTML TRAINING AT PADIS
The Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has offered training in the Hyper Text Markup Language since the spring of 1996. The programme has been taking place at the headquarters of the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To date, training has been given to ECA staff, staff members of sister United Nations organisations and NGO's represented in Ethiopia.
Participants in PADIS' HTML training are given an overview of the Internet as a communications medium. The course gives a tour of services available for electronic publication and information dissemination such as the World Wide Web is offered. HTML is introduced as the ``Lingua Franca'' for World Wide Web publication. The focus of the course is on the vocabulary of the HTML language. Students also receive an introduction to other aspects of providing a Web service. Classes generally run for 5 days in two three-hour sessions each day.
PADIS is now ready to offer this training course at institutions outside Ethiopia. The charges would be US$1000 per week per course for up to 15 students, plus the travel and accommodation expenses for two PADIS trainers. The contracting institution would be expected to provide computer training facilities, with a student:computer ratio of not more than 2 to 1 and a chalkboard or flip chart. The computers should be atleast 386 PC compatible (or equivalent Macintoshes) with 4 megabytes of RAM. Prerequisites for the students in the course are typing skills, familiarity with a Windows environment (MS Windows or Macintosh), and comfort using a mouse.
Further information on the PADIS Web/HTML training is available from Francis Inganji, Training Co-ordinator, PADIS; UNECA, P O Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; fax: +251 1 51 44 16; e-mail: francis_inganji@padis.gn.apc.org.
Details on the course curriculum follow:
Internet, The Web, and HTML -How it all Relates:
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Working libraries and Information scientists in Africa can enrol in the Loughborough University (UK) MBA programme in information and library management on an individual basis.
Jointly organized by Loughborough's University Business School and the Department of Information and Library studies, the programme is directed at middle and senior managers in information and library services. Full information is available from Ms. Sarah Wiltshire, Management Development Centre, Loughborough University Business School, Rutland Hall, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK; tel +44 1509-223-140; fax: +44 1509 233 313.
ASSISTANCE FOR DOCTORAL STUDIES
Candidates from Africa can apply for fellowships and assistantships for doctoral studies at the school of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina (USA). Four areas of concentration for the Ph.D. are offered: Informal retrieval and services; management of information services; information organization; and scholarly and professional communications. Applications for the following September are received through January of each year.
Interested individuals can contact the Assistant Dean, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, P.O.Box 3360, 100 Manning Hall, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3360 USA; Tel: +1 (919) 962-8366.
GRANT FOR EUROPEAN STUDY
Librarians form Africa are eligible for the Gustav Hofmann Study Grant, to study a specific subject for 4-6 weeks in one or more Western European countries.
Up to 10,000 DM is available on an annual basis to cover travel from the home country to and within Europe, and study and living costs in Europe. The annual application deadline is 1 February.
Information can be obtained from the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), P.O.Box 95312, 2509 CH The Hague, the Netherlands, tel: +31-70-314-0884; fax: +31-70-383-4827.
22-23 July: EIS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Advisory Committee meeting. Cambridge, UK
1-7 August: Tourism management workshop. Bamako, Mali
23-27 September: IDAMS (UNESCO) Technical Advisory Group. Paris, France
7-16 October: Training: ECOWAS Computer Centre. Lome, Togo
30 September-14 October: CIESEN: Managing Environment Information Services on the Internet. Saginaw, USA
15-17 October: Zimbabwe Computer Society conference. Harare, Zimbabwe
16-17 October: F. Ebert Society Meeting: Regional Telematics Initiatives. Munich, Germany
21-23 October: AISI/SiA-HID Coordination meeting. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
21-25 October: FID Conference and Congress: Globalization of Information. The Networking Information Society. Graz, Austria
4-8 November: 2nd UN Reg Conf Space Technology for Sustainable Development. Pretoria, South Africa
14-16 November: CABI Health Information exchange in eastern and southern Africa. Nairobi, Kenya
16-18 November: Standing Committee Harmonization and Standardization of Information Systems. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The following are some recent entries into the PADdev bibliographic database on social and economic aspects of development in Africa. Microfiches and photocopies of the documents are available from PADIS at the address shown on page one.
ECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Main recommendations of the regional working group on the 2000 round of population and housing census in Africa. 10p. 27 January 1996.
Recommendations were given on the development of an integrated national information system within the context of the 1990 round of population and housing census in Africa. Further recommendations were presented on emerging issues in African population and housing census, on enumeration methods for coverage of special population groups, uses of sampling in census and on data analysis dissemination methods and promotion of data utilization.
/Recommendations*/, /data collecting/, /population censuses/, /housing censuses/, /data analysis/, /Africa/.
ISN: 11013
ECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Conference of African ministers responsible for trade, regional cooperation, integration and tourism, 1st session, 7-13 February 1996.
The modalities for the redesign of trade promotion policies and programmes are discussed , as well as how ECA should equip itself to fully participate in the change process. In addition the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements by African countries are presented and an eight year intra-African trade development action plan is proposed.
/Trade development*/, /trade promotion*/, /trade policy*/, /ECA/, /Africa/.
/Uruguay Round Agreements*/
ISN: 11023
Doc. No. E/EC/TRADE/95/28
ECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Africa's expectations under Lome IV Convention in the area of trade. 19p. 15 December 1995.
The Conference of African ministers responsible for trade, regional cooperation, integration and tourism met in Addis Ababa 7-13 February 1996 to review the importance of the Lome IV Convention to Africa's trade and its impact on trade structure. The future for Lome is considered in the light of recent global developments, notably the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (MTN's) and the subsequent establishment of the new World Trade Organisation.
/Trade*/, /trade structure*/, /trade development/, /trade negotiations/, /Africa/.
/Lome IV Convention/, /Uruguay Round Agreement/
ISN: 11029
Doc. No. E/ECA/TRADE/95/
(5062 words)