African Americans Need to Share Their Technical Knowledge With The Motherland!

Below is an article I found today at www.allafrca.com. It's speaks to a point that many Pan Africanist have made since the Honorable Marcus Garvey. It's a point that has flown over the heads of many African Americans. Being African American we should see the problems the clearest. However, the powers that be have the majority of our youth watching BET and CW. And with many of the adults listening to Michael Baysden and Steve Harvey. There is no wonder why we as a people don't have a clue as to what's necessary for Africa's future. Understand this, African American's future is intertwined with Africa's future.

Africa: Diaspora Must Share Knowledge - Mbeki

18 November 2007
Posted to the web 18 November 2007

Lavinia Mahlangu
Johannesburg

President Thabo Mbeki has outlined the pressing need for Africa and Africans in the Diaspora to share knowledge and economic cooperation, in order to boost development.

Addressing the African Diaspora Ministerial Conference on Friday, President Mbeki explained: "There is an urgent need for knowledge sharing and economic cooperation between Africa and the Diaspora.

"For instance, the development programme of the African Union, NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa's Development], has developed various projects and programmes that are currently being implemented."

Delegates from Africa, Latin America, North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Caribbean have been meeting at the conference, opened by Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, to produce a framework, programme of action and draft declaration.

This declaration is to be presented to the African Union Heads of State Summit in 2008 and the African Diaspora scheduled to be held in South Africa in the first half of next year.

Sharing knowledge with the aim of boosting development, could be taken forward in areas such as telecommunication, explained President Mbeki.

"The report presented to this conference indicates, among other things, that the regional consultative conferences that have already taken place have strongly emphasised the need for the development of modern communication infrastructure in Africa in the form of satellite networks and fibre optic cables."

Mr Mbeki made mention of one of NEPAD's important projects, the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy).

The 9 900km-long submarine cable between Durban and Port Sudan, is set to transform the telecommunication sector in Africa, cut telecommunication costs and is expected to be in operation by the end of 2008.

"There are indeed other projects in different sectors and I am confident that through these projects some of which are in collaboration with partners from the developed north, the vision of the African Renaissance will, in time, become a living reality," said the President.

"At the same, if we were able to work better together with the Africans in the Diaspora, utilising the skills and expertise that many of them have, many of these programmes and projects will be implemented faster and I am certain more efficiently. "

Further to this, President Mbeki fully endorsed the identification by the regional consultative conferences of the need for collaboration between the private sectors in Africa and the Diaspora to increase access to capital, to business expertise and markets to accelerate development both on the Continent and the African Diaspora.

"For this reason, for instance, the African Union fully supported our proposal to FIFA that we should treat the 2010 Soccer World Cup which we will host, as an African Soccer World Cup, inclusive of the African Diaspora," said the President.

"Accordingly, therefore, our Continent is at one that the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup should also benefit the African Diaspora. We remain committed to this goal."

In his concluding remarks, the President made this plea to continent's citizens and its members in the Diaspora:

"Fellow Africans: Together, we will have to work hard to implement the recommendations that you will be making at this conference so that our meetings should always be important platforms for action that would ensure that Africans, wherever they are, enjoy prosperity and are able to walk tall among all the peoples of the world."