ECA EXECUTIVE SECRETARY TO MEET PRESIDENT MBEKI ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA

Press Release
REC/68

ECA EXECUTIVE SECRETARY TO MEET PRESIDENT MBEKI ON OFFICIAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA

ADDIS ABABA, 13 August (ECA) -- United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) K.Y. Amoako will today discuss a new ECA initative, the African Development Forum (ADF), with President Thabo Mbeki and senior government officials during a two-day official visit to South Africa.

The African Development Forum is an ECA initiative to stimulate informed debate in Africa on important development issues and thereby strengthen African voices in establishing the development agenda for the region. The ADF will address a series of issues over the next years, but its inaugural session will focus on the challenge to Africa of globalization and the information age. The ADF '99 will be held in Addis Ababa from 24 to 28 October.

South Africa has shown itself to be a leader in supporting the integration of Africa into the global information society. It hosted the Information Society and Development Conference in 1996 that positioned Africa for the first time in debates about globalization and the information age. Since then South Africa has created many innovative mechanisms to extend access to the information society. South Africa leads the continent in the number of internet users and internet service providers and in the extent of its information technology industry.

Mr. Amoako will extend an invitation to President Mbeki to participate in ADF '99, and will discuss with him the role that South Africa can play at the Conference and in its follow up as well as the contribution that South African business can make to the exhibition being established at the Technology Centre for Africa, a new project established by the ECA to showcase the benefits technology can have for development.

Mr. Amoako is also meeting with the Ministers of Posts and Communications and Education, who have also been invited to ADF '99. Discussions will focus on how best to share South African experiences with others from the region at the ADF.

The Department of Posts and Communications is of interest because it has developed innovative approaches to extending access to information

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technologies and has initiated a Green and White paper process on electronic commerce. The Minister's experience at the South African Broadcasting Corporation and her interest in broadcasting could also contribute to the ADF theme on new technologies and the media.

The Department of Education has taken the lead in exploring technology enhanced learning and has been a key player in the establishment of South Africa's School Network. Applications geared to the needs of the education system and of youth more generally will play a pivotal role in defining how Africa links with the emerging global information society.

Mr. Amoako hopes to secure the active involvement of South Africa in the ADF process as a whole and in ADF '99 during his brief visit to the country.

For more about the ADF, please visit http://ww.un.org/depts/eca/adf.

For more information, please contact: Peter K.A. da Costa, Senior Communication Adviser, c/o J. David Whaley, Resident Co-ordinator, United Nations System in Pretoria, South Africa (From 13 to 15 August). Tel: +27-12-338-5300; fax: +27-12-3204353/4; e-mail: dacosta@igc.apc.org; web: http://www.un.org/depts/eca. Or: Dumisani Rasheleng, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pretoria, South Africa. Tel: +27-12-351 0067/0351; fax: +27-12-351-0255/0260; e-mail: media@foreign.gov.za.

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