(OPENS AFRICA HALL)
E.C.A.: Its Responsibilities
On the occasion of the holding in Addis
Ababa of the Third Regular Session of the Economic Commission for Africa, We
are pleased to extend Our warm greetings to those who have come to the capital
city of Ethiopia to attend this Conference as representatives and observers. A
little over two years ago, We addressed the inaugural session of the Economic
Commission for Africa. In the years which have intervened, African development
has surged ahead on the irresistible tide which is sweeping the entire
continent to freedom. Many who attended that first session in the capacity of
observers have now become full members of this organization, and We extend a
particular welcome to those new states whose representatives, for the first
time, will play a full role in the deliberations which will take place here.
It is a law of nature and history that the
development of any people must proceed simultaneously on all fronts. It is not
enough that political emancipation has been and is being achieved. We must also
attain that degree of economic freedom which makes independence a complete and
meaningful concept. Our economies must be strong and viable. The energies which
the African peoples expend to this end must be fruitful and productive. After
having won their political independence, at such labour and cost, Africans must
now similarly labour to escape from the economic domination which could render
their freedom illusory and ephemeral.
This
is our task. It is not an easy task, and the challenge which it presents is
great. An age-old technique which we may expect to encounter again and again in
our struggle to attain independence in fact as well as in name, is summed up in
the maxim “divide and conquer.” We may question whether any action tending to
the association of European and African economies in the European Common Market
should not be delayed until the implications and consequences of this step have
been fully considered in this African forum. We must be ever mindful that our
greatest weapon is the oneness which we share as Africans. But it is not enough
to be Africans. That which pulls us apart and divides us must be resisted with
all of our strength. That which unites us must be pursued relentlessly and
inexorably. We must expand yet further communications among the African
nations; we must come to know one another better. We must increase student
exchanges and visits to one another’s countries. Our greatest asset is our
unity, and we must exploit it to the fullest. Is it not true that the
fundamental characteristic of unity is that each of us accepts as his own the
problems and difficulties which beset any of us, whether in his culture or his
economy.
The work which the Economic Commission for
Africa has performed in its short life is already laying a solid foundation
upon which Africans may work together for the solution of those problems which
beset this continent and for the realization of an ever-accelerating African
economic development. We congratulate the dedicated men and women who have,
under the ECA’s able Secretary-General, already produced so much that will be
so useful in the future. In their future work, We trust that the Economic
Commission for Africa will not ignore studies and research which can make a
further contribution to their work and to African development.
Nor
should the Economic Commission for Africa ignore the contributions it can make
in other fields. In the field of social development, for example, the Economic
Commission for Africa could, with additional assistance from the United
Nations, undertake a comparative study of the developing social life of African
nations, with special attention being given to agrarian problems. Cultural and
natural resources are the mainstays of the African economy; unless progress in
these fields keeps pace with development in other areas, a serious obstacle
will be created to accelerate growth in any area.
The responsibility for all this is in our
hands. We know that the Economic Commission for Africa will continue to serve
the ultimate interests of the African peoples, and We pray that Almighty God
will bless your labours and crown them with success.
Feb. 6, 1961.
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| “The Total Liberation of Africa” created by internationally famous Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle - Africa Hall. |
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| Unity is strenght - HIM QHS is the Source, Master and Architect of Unity. |
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