MARKING AFRICA INDUSTRIALIZATION DAY, GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

STRESSES ROLE OF NEW INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The following is the text of a message by Jan Kavan, President of the General Assembly, on the occasion of Africa Industrialization Day:  New Information and Communication Technologies, tomorrow, 20 November 2002:

Today, the United Nations family observes Africa Industrialization Day, with the collective spirit of supporting and promoting the development of the African continent.  It is also an occasion to remind ourselves that more than 30 of the world’s 48 least developed countries are located in Africa. 

We are at the end of the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa.  The Decade was declared by the General Assembly, covering the period 1993 to    2002, to focus on promoting sustainable industrial growth in the region.  The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the lead agency for this programme, has just launched the Industrial Development Report 2000/2003.  The report enumerates ongoing industrial projects and programmes.  It is an acknowledged fact that basic industry, and manufacturing industries in particular, is indispensable to economic growth.  A skilled work force, including managerial cadres, access to capital and technology, good governance, peace and security are only some of the preconditions for industry to flourish.  It is expected that, by the year 2025, more than 50 per cent of Africa’s population will be living in cities.  In this context, harnessing of new information and communication technologies will be key to rapid sustainable development. 

This year the special theme for this day is New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT).  It is not a coincidence that through NICT, one of the most visible of developmental tools, opportunities for the industrialization of Africa have expanded.  We find NICT are at the heart of mechanisms linked to developing new markets and improving existing ones, and have the capability of bringing villages and nations closer together, by facilitating electronic access to global knowledge, and creating an environment for learning. 

The programme of action envisioned in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) that was conceived and finalized over a year ago, under the auspices of Africa’s leaders, set itself the goals to promote accelerated growth and sustainable development, eradicate widespread and severe poverty and halt the marginalization of the continent in the globalization process.  NICT are an important tool towards achieving these objectives.  NICT would facilitate human development, accelerate intra-African trade and improve access to the markets of

developed countries.  Furthermore, NEPAD foresees the crucial role of NICT in the context of Africa’s recovery, and calls for concrete and practical steps to develop a proper information and technology infrastructure.  The United Nations family -- including UNIDO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) -- should continue their support for removing the many constraints to using NICT that industry faces, by creating awareness and building capacity for national information networking activities, and by facilitating public-private partnerships in the context of lessons learned from the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa (UN-NADAF) and the two industrial development decades. 

This is a day to renew the commitments by all parties -- including the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, the Conference of African Ministers for Industry and the country-specific bilateral public and private partnerships -- to the sustainable development of Africa.

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