AU’s
Commissioner Zoba visits ECA.
By
Andrew Allimadi, Communication Officer, ECA
21 March 2004
The African Union (AU) Commissioner
for Transport and Infrastructure, Dr. Bernard Zoba, paid an official visit to
ECA on Friday 18 March, to brief ECA on AU activities, particularly in the areas
of transport and infrastructure. The Commissioner was accompanied by director
of Transport and Tourism Division, Mr David Kajenge, and the director of the
Energy Division, Mr. Phillippe Niyongabo, and other colleagues.
Present
to welcome the AU delegation were Mr Robert Okello, director of ECA’s Office
of Programme and Policy Coordination (OPC), Mr Hakim Ben Hammouda, director
of Trade and Regional Integration Division (TRID) and Ida Opoku-Mensah, acting
director of Development Information Services Division (DISD), and other senior
ECA staff.
On behalf of ECA Executive Secretary Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Robert Okello welcomed
the AU delegation to ECA. He said ECA was happy to continue strengthening the
good collaboration that exists with the African Union in order to better respond
to the needs of the constituency that both institutions serve, Africa. He said
transport and infrastructure was of crucial importance to the development of
a continent the size of Africa and was therefore pleased to discuss in detail
the AU programme in this area.
Commissioner Zoba made a detailed presentation of the AU’s programme of action
on transport and infrastructure, which covers the development of energy potential,
various modes of transport and infrastructure, tourism, postal services and
telecommunications. He presented Infrastructure and energy mission as being
to: “Initiate, promote and facilitate policies, strategies and means that would
bring about integrated development of infrastructure and services as well as
enable the exploitation and rational utilization of energy resources while ensuring
sustainable protection of the environment.”
The presentation was followed by a long discussion by participants on specific areas and modalities for cooperation between the two institutions.