Nepad summit pushes regional integration

Hundreds of delegates from across Africa descended on the Sandton Convention Centre last week for the first ever Gauteng Nepad Summit. Bringing together government representatives and business leaders, the Summit aims to provide a platform to promote regional integration in Africa. Said Summit director Moses Mwanjirah: “The message is brief and simple: Let us maximise the opportunities currently presented to us. Let us walk the path to sustained prosperity together and with a common goal. Let us arrive at the end of this journey as one continent, united as never before.” An initiative of the Gauteng Economic Development Agency and the Gauteng Provincial Government, the Summit sees the coming together of a wide range of role-players and stakeholders. “Africa is slowly but surely ridding itself of the shackles of the past and forging forward to a future of prosperity,” said Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile in his address. “Yes, Africa has challenges, but there are also many opportunities on this continent. And we are moving forward. This Summit provides a platform for us as Africans to find ways to strengthen Africa’s economics and integrate our strategies of development.” Mashatile said the Summit was intended to strengthen people to people relations as well as trade and investment. “We are mindful of the global economic crisis of which the negative impact is now being felt on our continent. But our response to it is to say there is a need to strengthen our ties between the countries, to integrate our strategies and to stand together as a continent. Regional economic integration is imperative in these times.”