Addis Ababa — Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako will on Monday 17 December 2001 deliver an address on Africa's development challenges to an audience that will include British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr. Amoako's address, titled "Fulfilling Africa's Promise", is the latest in a series of lectures launched to mark the new Millennium and hosted by Mr. Blair and his wife Cherie. The Millennium Lectures are delivered in Downing Street to an audience of specialists and opinion formers, but they are intended to spark debate much further afield. This is the first Millennium Lecture devoted to Africa.

In his address, Mr. Amoako will stress that to meet its goal of halving poverty in the next 14 years, Africa will have to double its growth rates to about 7 percent a year, a target that only Africa's fastest-growing, best-managed economies have met to date.

In the face of a number of factors undermining Africa's prospects -- including the current world recession and the associated slump in commodity prices, and the immense impact of HIV/AIDS ­ Mr. Amoako will argue that there is a new and unparalleled determination among Africa's leaders to find solutions to the continent's problems.

Mr. Amoako will highlight important upcoming opportunities to meet Africa's major challenges, and will offer proposals on how Africa can address issues of debt, aid and trade. He will stress the primacy of governance, which, in addition to being about human rights and democracy, is also about building a capable state as a foundation for a new kind of international partnership.

For more information, please contact Peter da Costa on Tel: +44-7880-634-392, E-mail: pdacosta@uneca.org

The full text of Mr. Amoako's address will be available shortly after delivery in the 'What's New' Section of the ECA Web site, at www.uneca.org