10 July 2009
Nairobi — The inaugural NEPAD Transport Summit 2009 and Africa Expo, which promotes regional integration through transport networks will commence in Johannesburg on November, 2009.
During the meeting, government representatives from different African states will meet the representatives from private sectors to discuss issues relating to transport and logistics as a means of improving economies in Africa.
They will discuss and seek ways to prioritise, speed up and integrate national action plans on transport involving road, rail and ports; and to increase awareness of the huge potential for trade, regional funding and foreign investment.
The main focus will be on Africa's key cross-border arteries and their importance in regional integration.
One of the network link is the North-South corridor, which links the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to the Zambian Copperbelt and the DRC, then runs through Zimbabwe and Botswana to Durban, with other corridor links to Namibia and Mozambique.
It also has connections to the Great Lakes in the north and Malawi in the east.
The second link is NEPAD's East-West corridor concept, covering the entire West, Central and East African regions from Dakar in Senegal through Lagos in Nigeria and on to Nairobi in Kenya and the port of Mombasa.
The Summit will also discuss progress on the Yamoussoukro decision of 1998 to promote the liberalisation of air transport in Africa and NEPAD's role in this process.
Other areas for discussion will include cross-border formalities and red tape; new trade opportunities and markets; construction and maintenance; and public-private partnerships, private sector finance and international aid.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
