NEPAD Chief Executive Prof. Firmino Mucavele welcomed the President to Midrand on 8 May 2007 and briefed him on the progress being made in the implementation of the various NEPAD programmes.

In view of the forthcoming G8 meeting in Berlin, Germany, which will focus on infrastructure development, Professor Mucavele presented the major development corridors that are being targeted across Africa. He urged the President to appeal to development partners to support Africa in the development of these corridors.

During his talk with the NEPAD staff, President Kufuor summarised the major outcomes of the recent Algiers meeting of the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) :

that NEPAD belongs to the African Union and therefore there is no need to integrate NEPAD into the AU ;

that what is needed is to streamline NEPAD programmes with those of the AU.

The streamlining should be modelled along the relationships that exist between the UN and its agencies.

President Kufuor then announced that the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee decided to transform NEPAD into the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Authority.

He said the perception among some member countries that NEPAD is “locked” in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been clarified by his tour which reflected NEPAD as a truly continental initiative.

He challenged the African Union Commission and NEPAD Secretariat to quickly complete the transformation process and set up efficient NEPAD regional offices with a view to getting closer to member states and to enhance access to information and participation in NEPAD processes.

He also pointed out the importance of implementing NEPAD programmes to address the consequences of climate change as they have a very important bearing on food security and development prospects in Africa.

President Kufuor further encouraged NEPAD to give priority to key sectors including Infrastructure and ICT and urged studies to be conducted to increase Africa’s competence in this area.

He requested the NEPAD Secretariat to conduct urgent pre-feasibility studies on prioritised infrastructure, focusing on power-pools, ICT and food security. Source : nepad, may 15, 2007