South Africa will be hosting the first NEPAD Science and Technology Ministerial on the 6 and 7 November 2003. The Ministers responsible for S&T in all African Union countries have been invited to this landmark event to launch the S&T platform of NEPAD. The NEPAD Secretariat took this proposal to the African Union Summit held in Maputo in July 2003. This was endorsed unanimously. The NEPAD Secretariat then invited the South African government through the Department of Science and Technology to host this inaugural Ministerial.

The Ministerial will be pre-ceded by a three day Senior Officials Segment.

The Department of Science and Technology hosted a workshop themed, "Developing a Science and Technology Framework for NEPAD" in Sandton, from 17-19 February 2003. Four of the five NEPAD initiating countries sent delegations and there was representation from some of the international bodies involved in S&T.

One of the recommendations that came forth from the workshop was that a High-Level Forum on Science and Technology should be organised. The Forum should consist of African Ministers of Science and Technology and senior policy makers and experts. A key recommendation of this meeting was the need to convene a political forum to launch the S&T platform of NEPAD. The NEPAD Secretariat carried this proposal to the Maputo Summit.

The purpose of this document is to provide a brief report on the preparations that have been initiated by the Department of Science and Technology for the Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology. This report will touch briefly on the logistical arrangements and concentrate more on the content-related preparations, including the development of a South African position paper that will guide our participation in the deliberations.

The Ministerial Conference will take place from 3-7 November 2003, at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg. The Ministerial segment is scheduled for 6-7 November, preceded by a High Level Officials segment over the three preceding days. The conference will be convened by the NEPAD Secretariat and hosted by South Africa, with the Department of Science and Technology being the lead Department. A series of discussions have been held to clarify roles and responsibilities among all concerned. Logistics and Preparatory Committees are up and running. The NEPAD Secretariat will issue invitations to all Ministers of Science and Technology on the African continent.

The most important outcome expected of the Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology is a political commitment to S&T cooperation in the form of a declaration. Experience has shown that initiatives that do not enjoy political support have limited chances of success and survival on the continent. This is a particularly important consideration with NEPAD, given the emphasis it places on African ownership and commitment to good governance. The Department of Science and Technology expects that the African Ministers of Science and Technology will conclude the conference on the 7^th of November 2003, with an articulate statement that will commit their governments unequivocally to the development of the S&T systems in support of broader socio-economic objectives. This statement will be conscious of and build upon preceding commitments such as the 2002 Cape Town Declaration of the ACP-EU Forum and the Dubai Declaration of the G-77.

Although an expression of political commitment will be an important milestone, we would like the Ministerial to go much further. In particular, we would like the conference to deliberate on and reach agreements on governance structures, resource mechanisms and programmes for Science and Technology.

A process is underway to put together a South African non-paper for the NEPAD Ministerial. The interdepartmental Preparatory Committee comprises the Science Councils, the Departments of Agriculture, Communications, Education, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Foreign Affairs, Health, Minerals and Energy, Trade and Industry and AISA.

The following outline provides the framework of our general approach:

Efficiency and legitimacy are the defining characteristics of the NEPAD S&T governance structure that must be set up. The institutional structures that are provided by the African Union should provide the basis of a legitimate governance mechanism. A model that will be proposed will include a monitoring and review mechanism.

 Funding and Resources

The South African paper proposes that the conference considers the question of the resourcing of S&T programmes from the point of views of internal resources and external resources (ODA). The Ministerial should pronounce itself on how national resources could be mobilised to support scientific research and technological development. This will include an assessment of the extent to which African governments have gone to meet the 1% of GDP previously committed to.

A mechanism will be proposed on how external pledges that have been made, for example by the G8, are made available for science and technology. Most importantly, the document will propose mechanisms by which funds are channelled into programmes

Given the limited resources available and the capacity constraints within governments and S&T institutions in Africa, our view is that we should develop a focussed programme that will deliver successes to build upon further initiatives. The core of the S&T programme should be the technology platforms identified in the NEPAD base document of 2002. The programme should contribute to the efforts to bring about socio-economic development and add value to the rest of the NEPAD programmes, particularly with respect to food security, provision of clean water and renewable and affordable energy for all. Our strategy will outline the means to stimulate the diversification of manufacturing industries and beneficiation of natural resources and agricultural products.

An important strategy in promoting research and development in the continent is that of creating networks of knowledge centres. Our strategy will outline possible networks that need to be established and the criteria for the identification of possible knowledge centres. Common across all these efforts would be the creation of a critical mass of expertise in order to generate development in key technology areas across the continent.

The November 2003 Ministerial Conference is historic in that it will be first of its kind on the continent to focus on Science and Technology. We expect it to lay a solid foundation to build upon continental cooperation in Science and Technology. In spite of the limited time left before the conference, the logistical and content preparations are on track. The Department of Science and Technology plans to present the status of all the preparations and the final draft position paper to the Portfolio Committee and Cabinet ahead of the Conference in October.