First concrete plans on the Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy
African ministers of science and technology and the European Union have jump-started the EU-Africa strategic partnership on science and IT and agreed to coordinate ICT development plans in Africa.
The EU has agreed to fund African science and technology programs including the New Partnership for Africa’s Development ICT broadband infrastructure project, aimed at providing high-speed broadband connectivity to Africa. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development, or Nepad, is a regional organization headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, chartered to accelerate the continent’s economic development. The EU-Africa strategic partnership on science and information technology was first hammered together at the summit of heads of government of the EU-Africa, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in December last year. A meeting of the African ministers of science and technology and the E.U. took place in Windhoek, Namibia, last week and was aimed at looking at how best to implement the EU-Africa joint strategy.
