SOUTH AFRICAN COUNTRY STATEMENT

As South Africa, we were extremely pleased to learn that the theme Science Technology and Research for Africa’s Development was assigned to the January 2007 Summit of Heads of State and Government.

This demonstrates the extent to which the African Union regards the role of science and technology in addressing the social and economic challenges of the continent. The summit constitutes, in our view, an excellent opportunity for our countries to commit at the highest level collective support for our shared initiatives as outlined in the Consolidated Plan of Action.

The Consolidated Plan of Action, which we adopted at the conclusion of the second AMCOST meeting in Dakar last year, epitomises not only our unity of purpose as Africans, but also our tangible commitment to do what it takes to bring about the improvement of the quality of life of our people through science and technology.

The Consolidated Plan of Action and its process of development have received very positive gestures from our Developmental Partners. We would like to see these expressions of goodwill rapidly converted into hard resources and meaningful partnerships.

However, it is imperative that we, as Africans, demonstrate our ownership of and commitment to this programme by contributing the necessary resources, to the extent to which our means allow, to drive the implementation of this Plan of Action. We expect the African Science and Innovation Facility, once established, to provide the modalities for mobilising African resources.

As a country, we are pleased to have been able to participate in three of the lead initiatives of this platform – the Biosciences Initiative, African Laser Centre and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. This year, we have committed over R10 million towards these flagship programmes, and have made plans to substantially increase this support in the coming years. We have mobilised our research and technology institutions to avail themselves to act as hubs and nodes in the networks that are being formed.

We are also working towards strengthening our bilateral partnerships on the continent because we believe they can play an important role in supporting our sub-regional and continental programmes.

Concerning our bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be the largest radio-telescope ever built, we are pleased to announce that the race has now been reduced to two contenders, namely South Africa and Australia. I would like to thank you for your support in this bid, which was expressed in the form of the Declaration adopted by this council in 2003. We view this bid as an African bid, with components planned to be stationed in several countries on the continent. A scholarship programme that we set up to build the human capacity required for the SKA also includes M.Sc. and Ph.D. students from the rest of the continent.

We are a continent at work. All indications are that we will achieve much if we continue to apply ourselves with enthusiasm and innovation to the implementation of the Consolidated Plan of Action. We would like to commend the leadership of the African Union, under the wise guidance of Commissioner Essayed. We are encouraged by the committed leadership of Senegal of AMCOST and the Steering Committee, as well as the support of the NEPAD Science and Technology Office.

We are convinced that it is through collective efforts that we can address the shared challenges facing our continent through partnerships in research and technology.

Thank you.