Note by the Secretariat

INTRODUCTION

The Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Transport and Communications was held in Cairo, Egypt from 25 to 27 November 1997. The meeting was attended by representatives from 46 countries (inclusive of 10 out of 11 covered by the SRDC-SA). Twenty-two United Nations specialized agencies and African inter-governmental organizations were also represented.

2. The objective of the meeting was to review the progress reports, consider the report of the Second Mid-term Report of the Second United Nations Transport and Communications Decade for Africa (UNTACDA II)(1988-2000), and derive therefrom a framework for accelerating the implementation of the UNTACDA II programme for building efficient transport and communications systems in Africa for the 21st century.

3. This report gives a summary of the recommendations adopted by the meeting.

PROGRESS REPORT ON THE REGIONAL PROJECTS

4. The meeting considered the following six regional projects:

(a) Human Resources and Institutional Development Programme

(b) Regional Transport Database Programme

(c) Trans-African Highway Bureau (TAHB)

(f) RASCOM

5. The meeting adopted the reports of the first two regional projects without major recommendations.

6. On the Trans-African Highway Bureau, the meeting recommended that: (a) the number of ratification remains as adopted during the last meeting of the Conference of Ministers (18 ratification); (b) ECA set up a unit to follow up the signing, ratification and payment of dues; and, (c) member States fulfil the requirements for setting up the Bureau before the next meeting of this Conference.

7. With regard to the Manufacture of Equipment for Road, Rail, Maritime and Inland Water Transport Programme, the meeting recommended that manufacturers should take into account the local environmental considerations, and that imported products should meet the prescribed local standards.

8. The implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration on the New African Air Transport Policy generated long discussions which culminated in the following conclusions: (a) the spirit of the Yamoussoukro Declaration was still valid and topical; (b) the Declaration, which had been formulated as far back as 1988, needed to be revised in order to reflect current concerns in the air transport with special reference to deregulation and globalization.

9. The Conference requested Cote d'Ivoire to host the meeting in 1999 to review the Yamoussoukro Declaration and the modalities for speeding up its implementation. A preparatory committee comprising the UNTACDA II Air Transport Subsectoral and Subregional Working Groups, and selected Civil Aviation Authorities and airlines, was instructed to review the Declaration and prepare documentation for the ministerial conference.

10. On the implementation of RASCOM, an appeal was made to member States to speed up the accession to RASCOM and payment of dues. However, some delegations raised concern about the possible loss of control over RASCOM by African member States as a result of the proposed Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangements. ITU and RASCOM representatives informed the meeting of the decision made by RASCOM's Board of Directors to adopt the BOT arrangements in the light of the huge amounts of capital required. They assured the Conference that RASCOM would closely monitor the process. Further information was also provided on the progress already achieved in this regard.

THE FRAMEWORK BASED ON THE SECOND MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE UNTACDA II PROGRAMME

11. The meeting adopted the proposed framework based on the recommendations of the Second Mid-term Evaluation Report which required immediate action to:

12. A programme of work for Phase I(1998-2000) and Phase II (beyond 2000) for all the subsectors was adopted by the meeting. It also drew up the modalities for cooperation, resource mobilization and the institutional framework for coordination and monitoring of the programme.

13. Further elaboration of these aspects is given below:

(i) Cooperation

14. While remaining an African programme, and its success indeed depends on that, the Decade must be an effective cooperation framework which makes it possible, through dialogue and consultation among all partners, to direct all efforts towards the harmonious development of the transport and communications sector and particularly towards the attainment of its objectives. In this regard, the partners must pursue and intensify cooperation proven during the Decade preparation and make all concerted efforts to mobilize as much resources as possible at the domestic and external levels to allow for the achievement of rapid results before the end of the Decade.

15. Within this framework, though SSATP and Decade programmes had made it possible to obtain some positive results which increased the thrust to attain the Decade objectives, it is necessary to harmonize and coordinate them in order to increase their efficiency. This harmonization and coordination stage must be followed by a second one relating to the transfer of the SSATP base in Africa in order to further facilitate contacts with recipient countries, and the possible extension of the programme to the whole continent. In the long run, it would be necessary to envisage a single framework for action for the development of transport and communications sector on the whole continent.

16. Regional programmes of international agencies must draw inspiration form the Decade programme; and the decade agencies must be involved in the preparation of regional programmes in order to take account of experiences from the two Decades.

(ii) Resource mobilization

17. Lessons drawn from the implementation of UNTACDA II show that the programme implementation suffered form lack of financial resources. The difficulties faced by the traditional financing agencies such as UNDP and the States are partly a contributory factor. That situation required the States and agencies piloting the Decade to be more imaginative and to adopt new resource mobilization strategies centred on:

18. Action already initiated to equip the subregional economic communities with their own resource-generation mechanisms must be pursued and facilitated by the States.

19. Accessibility to regional funds (e.g. , under the Lome Convention) must be given special attention. Authorizing ministers should be formally informed of the Decade programmes. Within that framework, the subregional organizations, should coordinate their efforts by establishing regional pools and by designating authorizing organization from their midst.

20. The establishment of sectoral trust funds financed through levies such as the road funds which existed in certain States, should be envisaged as well as maritime funds, ...etc., which were proposed.

(iii) Institutional framework for coordination and monitoring

21. Considering the problems identified in the evaluation report which led to the malfunctioning of the established institutional framework, and hence the tardy programme implementation, it is necessary to review this mechanism. In this respect, the following framework has been proposed, and it can be streamlined if necessary:

22. In conclusion, the future activities in transport and communications for the subregion should be drawn from the phases I and II programme given in the framework based on priorities identified in the subregion.