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.”