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Address by Minister Mosibudi Mangena, to the University Of Cape Town Institute of Infectious Diseases & Molecular Medicine (IIDMM)
2006-05-23 13:35
the University Of Cape Town Institute Of Infectious Diseases & Molecular Medicine
Minister
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Address by the Honourable Minister of Science & Technology, Mr Mosibudi Mangena, to the University Of Cape Town Institute Of Infectious Diseases & Molecular Medicine 23 May 2006 Vice Chancellor, Prof Njabulo Ndebele; Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research, Prof Cheryl de la Rey; The Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences, Prof Marion Jacobs; The Director of the Institute, Prof Greg Hussey; Distinguished lecturers, professors and students; Honoured Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen; The Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine at this university is one of the premier biotechnology institutions in the country. I am proud to announce that this institute has been selected as South Africa’s candidate to host a Component Centre of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the ICGEB. Biotechnology is one of the priority Research and Development missions in South Africa because it is one of the areas of our R&D outputs that has the potential to assist government improve our economic growth rate to the level where we can possibly halve poverty and unemployment rates by 2014. In support of this national objective, my department is introducing measures to ensure that the R&D produced by our science and technology system contributes positively to the growth and development needs of all our citizens in a sustainable manner. Our goal is to ensure that biotechnology and genetic engineering benefit us and all the peoples of the continent. The South African National R&D Strategy has identified biotechnology as one of the key technology platforms that can be utilised to address our economic and social challenges. And to this end, we launched the National Biotechnology Strategy more than a year ago. The roll-out of the Biotechnology Strategy is strongly supported by the National Malaria Initiative, the National HIV/AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), and the National TB Research Initiative (SATRI). The opportunity to host one of the three major international laboratories of the ICGEB, in addition to the two existing centres in Trieste, Italy and New Delhi, India, is invaluable. Apart from enhancing the value of the work being done in the biotechnology area in South Africa, the centre will also play a critical role in addressing the health related challenges in the developing world. The African Component Centre of the ICGEB is a new international biotechnology hub that will be used to address, among others;
The South African biotechnology community and institutions are ready to collaborate with the international ICGEB membership and act as a bridge to the African biotechnology community. South Africa is a major player in the development and implementation of the African Union/NePAD science and technology platform, and has had the honour of being the inaugural Chair of the African Minister’s of Science and Technology Council (AMCOST). We currently host the NePAD Biotechnology node for Southern Africa, the SANBio. The location of the third ICGEB Component in South Africa will further support regional cooperation on Biotechnology and strengthen the NePAD and SADC Bioscience platforms. South Africa has a strong science tradition and is emerging as an important global science and technology player in all multilateral fora, institutions and platforms. She has managed to operate in both the developing country space, through active participation in the S&T platforms of the G77 grouping of developing countries, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the African Union/NePAD, as well as in the developed country space through, for example, bilateral agreements and active participation in EU Framework Programmes. The latter can also be illustrated by South Africa obtaining the status of permanent observer to the OECD Committee for Science and Technology Policy. Further, South Africa actively uses this relatively privileged position to organise for a net inflow of knowledge and resources for science and technology into the developing world. The establishment of an ICGEB Component Centre in Africa has also enjoyed the support of the G8 countries. At the 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis, G8 countries adopted the Africa Action Plan. This plan was the response of the G8 to the launch, by African leaders, of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NePAD). The 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit stated its support towards the initiative to establish the 3rd ICGEB component in Africa. The AMCOST 2 Declaration in Dakar last year was explicit in its call to the ICGEB Board of Governors to specifically locate the third Component Centre in Africa, and we are delighted that the ICGEB has responded accordingly. As an African and a member of AMCOST, I am delighted that there are two other bids from Africa; one by Tanzania and the other by Nigeria. It certainly bodes well for the development of Science in Africa that we are able to present three good bids from the continent to the ICGEB. Finally, we believe that South Africa more than adequately meets the requirements for hosting a Component Centre of the ICGEB. The Department of Science and Technology fully supports the bid proposal to the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology to host an African component right here at the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine. I thank you. |
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