High-Level Transport Meeting Opens at ECA
By Andrew Allimadi, ECA, 28 September 2004

Ethiopia’s Minister of Infrastructure, Dr. Kassu Yilala on Monday opened the annual meeting of the sub-Saharan African Transport Programme (SSATP), taking place at the head office of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The week-long meeting is being attended by transport experts High-Level Transport Meeting from throughout Africa, representing member states and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), as well as experts from the World Bank, Commission of the European Union and other institutions. In his opening address to the conference, Minister Yilala stressed the importance of the link between an efficient and functional transport sector and economic development. He said many countries will not meet the millennium development goals if schools and hospitals remain inaccessible due to poor transport infrastructure. He said Ethiopia is committed to the goals of the SSATP and will lend its full support to SSATP activities.

 

Addressing the meeting on behalf of the Executive Secretary of ECA Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Hachim Koumare, Director of ECA’s sub-regional office in Central Africa and chairman of the SSATP board, said an assessment of SSATP so far found many member states “groping in the dark” as far as policy development and implementation is concerned. He said it was important that past systems of taking decisions be changed to enable governing bodies to take decisions. He acknowledged the disparate nature of African countries and said the meeting should seek to identify common denominators for which policy can be established and implemented.

Also speaking at the opening ceremony were the AU Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure, Dr. Bernard Zoba, and Mr. Bruce Thompson from the Commission of the European Union.

The SSATP is a programme in which ECA, African governments and the World Bank are participants. The aim of the programme is to improve transport sector performance by promoting necessary policy reforms and institutional changes in African countries.