Sunday, September 05, 2010
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Speeches - Premier

ADDRESS BY GAUTENG PREMIER, PAUL MASHATILE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE GAUTENG NEPAD SUMMIT.


4 MARCH 2009.  


This inaugural Gauteng NEPAD Summit  is the first of its kind and aims to provide a platform for us as Africans to discuss ways of strengthening trade and investments among ourselves and to further promote economic integration in our continent.

The summit will allow us to explore projects and programmes that we can jointly implement as African countries in pursuit of the objectives of NEPAD.

Our hosting of this event is informed by our commitment to NEPAD?s objectives, which seek to develop Africa and to promote sustainable and self development on the continent.

Through this summit, we will take the NEPAD agenda forward by highlighting the many business opportunities available across the African continent and explore ways to best capitalise on them.

We will also use the summit to contribute towards the noble objective of freeing the African continent from its past of underdevelopment, poverty and inequality.The hosting of the NEPAD summit therefore forms part of our ongoing efforts to build a better Africa and a better world.
 
It indicates that our continent is indeed shaking off the shackles of its unhappy past, and forging ahead to a future laden with hope and prosperity.

This is a future that will bring with it more challenges but most importantly a future that will bring enormous opportunities for expanded trade and investment among
ourselves as the peoples of Africa.

We convene this summit as a part of our overall commitment as the Gauteng Provincial Government to strengthen the work we are doing in promoting trade relations and investment with the rest of the African continent.

We therefore believe that this summit marks the beginning of ongoing work to consolidate our regional economies and strengthen trade and investment in our continent.

As we meet here today we are mindful of the challenges brought about by the persistent global economic crisis whose negative impact can now be felt in Africa.

Part of our response to the global economic crisis is the need to integrate our regional economies, create common markets for our goods and services and strengthen trade and investment among ourselves as African nations.

It is our view that regional economic integration will contribute massively to the objective of positioning our continent as an attractive destination for investment by the developed economies.

Regional economic integration can also contribute to the emergence of a better Africa that is capable of responding to the challenges of globalisation.

 One of the key challenges facing the world today is the need to respond to climate change and greenhouse gases.

As we grow and integrate our economies we need to pay equal attention to renewable and clean sources of energy, 

We also remain faced with the challenge of promoting democratic governance and peaceful coexistence in our continent.

We must condemn all acts that undermine peace, stability and democracy.     

Having said this we are however confident that gatherings such as these as well as institutions established by the African Union will assist us to build a better Africa.

 Gauteng is ready and willing to play its part in ongoing efforts towards economic integration within the African continent.

This we will do because we believe that sustainable economic growth and development can only be achieved if we work together as Africans and use our collective strengths to our maximum benefit.

We note with appreciation that this summit will also provide a platform for Africa?s major cities and regions to engage in dialogue on best practices and challenges affecting them.

To us this is a  critical aspect given the role played by major cities and regions in the growth and development of national economies.

We look forward to sharing our experiences and learning from our counterparts on the African continent as we build Gauteng as a globally competitive city region.

Part of building Gauteng as a globally competitive city region requires that we support strategic sectors of the provincial economy that not only have the greatest potential to create decent work for our people but also to ensure that the provincial economy becomes globally competitive.

The sectors that we will continue to support as part of our drive to become globally competitive include value added manufacturing, agro-processing, information and communications technology.

We are delighted that this summit will also explore opportunities for cooperation in these sectors.

To further enhance our global competitiveness we will be embarking on long-term planning.

This we will do in order to facilitate integration within the various spheres of government in our country and within the SADC region.  

We are hopeful that this summit will strengthen the work we are doing as Gauteng to strengthen political, trade and economic relations between ourselves and the rest of the African continent.

Since that historic day in July 2004, when African leaders decided to honour our country and its people by giving us the privilege to be the permanent host of the Pan African Parliament, Gauteng has continued to extend its warm welcome and has rolled out the red carpet for this august body.

Furthermore and guided by the Gauteng NEPAD Framework and our growth and development strategy we are collaborating with the Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo in infrastructure development support.

We continue to market Soccerex, the largest business-to-business soccer expo, to countries like Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho.

We are also exploring areas of cooperation in the tourism industry with the Zanzibar region in Tanzania.

We are doing all of these things to demonstrate our commitment to regional economic integration and cooperation.

Most importantly we are doing these things to contribute toward building a better Africa.

We look forward to this summit strengthening our efforts and we are confident that it will reach its objectives.

Africa ke nako; Africa now is the time!
 
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