ADDIS ABABA DECLARATION ON SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT

The following is the text of the Declaration on Science and Technology made at the African Union Summit last week:

We, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, meeting at the 8th Ordinary Session of our Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from the 29 to 30 January 2007;

Reaffirming our commitment to the principles and objectives stipulated in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and our common objective to advance the development of the Continent by promoting research in all fields, in particular in science and technology;

Determined to take all necessary measures to strengthen our common institutions and provide them with the necessary resources to enable them discharge their respective mandates effectively;

Recalling our millennium commitment to achieve sustainable development for our Continent;

Reaffirming that African people are now more than before determined to banish poverty, combat diseases, improve public health, increase agricultural production, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);

Realizing that the achievement of these goals depends on our countries’ ability to harness science and technology for development and also on an increased and sustained investment in science, technology and innovation;

Recognizing the need to build and strengthen Africa’s institutions to enable them to conduct more scientific research so that the outputs of research may be utilized to solve our social environmental problems and contribute to socio-economic development;


Recalling the decision to declare the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015) and the adoption of the Framework for the Plan of Action for the Decade;

Recognizing the support in the field of science and technology by international organizations such as UNESCO;

WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO:

• Encourage more African youth to take up studies in science, technology and engineering, and invite Member States to pay special attention to the teaching of science and technology;

• Promote and support research and innovation activities and the requisite human and institutional capacities;

• Ensure scrupulous application of scientific ethics in Africa with a view to preserving the continent’s environment and national resources and preventing all practices harmful to African populations;

• Ensure the enhanced role and the revitalization of African universities and other African institutions of higher education as well as scientific research institutions so that they can play an effective role as loci of science, technology and engineering education and development and also contribute to public understanding of science and technology;

• Promote and enhance regional as well as south-south and north-south cooperation in science and technology;

• Increase funding for national, regional and continental programmes for science and technology and support the establishment of national and regional centres of excellence in science and technology.

We call on UNESCO and other bilateral and multilateral organizations to support the Member States, Regional Economic Communities and the African Union to implement the Summit decision on Science and Technology.

Read comments occasioned by the meeting:

* "Africa's scientific revolution must start at the roots" an editorial by David Dickson, SciDev.Net, February 1, 2007

* "African science: Local heroes" in The Economist, February 1, 2007 (subscription required).