Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (Dakar)
15 April 2008
Dakar — The different components of the New Partnership for Africa's development (NEPAD) "very soon" integrated into the African Union (AU), following a decision made the Implementation Committee members during a meeting in Dakar on Tuesday.
"If everything works as expected, NEPAD components will be soon integrated into the African Union. And there will no more confusion", Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tdiane Gadio said at the end of the meeting.
The Dakar meeting was attended by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, and his colleagues Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abel Aziz Bouteflika of Algeria as well as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Wenawi. Egypt and Nigeria were respectively represented by their Economy and Develomement minister and Foreign Minister.
"Suggestions were made so that the Heads of State become a sort of Board of directors for NEPAD. Consequently, they will be able to make important decisions regarding the NEPAD implementation process", Gadio added.
Institutions such as the African Development Bank (AFFB) will turned into "execution agencies" with the possibility to initiate feasibility studies, for example, he said.
The Dakar meeting was decided by the African Union in June, last year, during the Heads of State's summit in Accra, Ghana.
It was first scheduled for November, last year before being postponed at the very last moment.
President Abdoulaye Wade, one of the father-founders of NEPAD, has been very critical of NEPAD over the last three years. He once compared NEPAD to a "very nice Mercedes with a bad driver" to explain why there are problems to implement it.
NEPAD was launched in 2001 with 8 main sectors to reduce the development gap between Africa and the rest of the world. But it is confronted with many difficulties to be implemented.
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