Abuja — The Honourable Minister of Cooperation and integration in Africa, Chief Bimbola Ogunkelu has listed infrastructure, information and communication, agriculture, diversification of production and exports, and human development among the top priorities of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Others include the promotion of mobilising resources through increased savings and capital flow via further debt relief, as well as better management of public revenue and expenditure as part of its priorities too.

Ogunkelu stated this recently at the 3rd African Development Forum (ADF) on regional integration and the implementation of NEPAD which held recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The minister emphasised that for NEPAD to achieve and sustain development, a new relationship should be established with industrialised countries and multilateral organisations.He noted that strategies should be built on three strong pillars among which are peace and security, democratic and political governance, economic and corporate governance focusing on public sector finance management and regional cooperation and integration.

He reminded the ADF that president Obasanjo shares a pan-african vision and recognises african initiatives such as African Union which broadens the economic Co-operation and regional integration to restore peace and stability, protect human rights, co-ordinate and harmonise macro-economic policies and facilitate free movement of goods and services among other advantages.

He also noted that ECOWAS, CEMAC, IGAD and SADC are all establishments of OAU's collective efforts at regional integration and that with the on-going transformation of OAU into the African Union (AU) it is imperative to focus on how best to speed up the integration process.

Nigeria, he stated, believes that the sub-regional economic groupings in colloboration with the OAU, ECA and the African Development Bank (ADB) should focus on the implementation of NEPAD.