The third African Development Forum on the theme "Defining Priorities for Regional Integration" opened Monday at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Executive Secretary K.Y. Amoako of the Economic Commission for Africa, Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity Amara Essy and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi addressed the conference, urging the African countries to exert their efforts to seek the political and economic integration in the region.
Some 1,000 African leaders and policy makers, representatives of civil society organizations, development institutions and the private sectors from more than 40 African countries, diplomatic envoys to Ethiopia were present at the conference.
During the five-day meeting, participants will focus on five thematic clusters including economic policies for accelerating regional integration, physical integration through infrastructure development, regional approaches to regional issues, institutional arrangements and capacity, and peace and security architecture.
(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2002)
