TANZANIA TOLD TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SULLIVAN SUMMIT

By Guardian Reporter
Tanzania has been reminded to exploit the forthcoming Sullivan Summit by mulling strategies for identifying African Diaspora with skills, experience and financial capabilities which could be back-rolled onto the country as information and communication technologies (ICTs) to foster national development. Tanzania has already agreed to host the Summit, an eighth international meeting on tourism organised by the US based foundation Leon H Sullivan to be held in Arusha May next year. This was one of the remarks made on the sidelines of a recent 3rd Global Knowledge Conference at Kuala Lumpur where Ghanaian economics Professor at New York University Yaw Nyarko said such an opportunity could be used to establish contacts and support Diaspora initiatives, as China and India have effectively done, so that they ultimately see the reason to come back home and invest in ICTs, seen as one of the options for speeding up development with human face in Africa. The event will also include the Sullivan Expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro and a cultural festival in Zanzibar, but in the interim, deals could be entered so that the current `brain drain` distress facing Tanzania and Africa at large could be turned into `brain circulation`, preferably in the area of ICTs that was all set to determine Tanzania’s strategic development in future. The Sullivan event is expected to draw over 4,000 participants, mostly tourism and travel trade executives from all over the world. As the conference comes closer, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation intends to create a national coordination committee whose main objective was to sensitise the public on the true importance of the coming event. The meeting will specifically focus on infrastructural development and tourism, the reason analysts say it was proper that the question of ICT infrastructure becomes adequately addressed because that alone will provide wide opportunities to American tourist suppliers and the African tourist product sellers in exchanging business under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) that was initiated by the US government. Leon Sullivan Foundation has been promoting business between Africa and the rich African Americans across the Atlantic to come together and raise resources for development of the African continent. Professor Yaw Nyarko lamented that Africa is spending enormously to educate its people in strategic professions, but unfortunately they end up emigrating to the west in search of greener pastures. Cape Verde was mentioned as worst case scenario where close to 67 per cent of its educated folks are now in the Diaspora, but annual Sullivan Summits could be used to reverse the situation. For instance, he said, Ghanaian Diaspora have established a bank back home, meaning that the Diaspora could as well become an easier avenue for venture capital for ICT4D, as long as Africa strives to develop its ICT-backbone infrastructure, as well as having in place appropriate ICT policies for its rural areas. On her part, Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, the UN’s Director for Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication technology for Development (UN-APCICT) was critical of the ongoing western media campaigns that portray Africa as a vulnerable continent always struggling against endless crises like wars and famine. What knowledge society needs to do right now is to expose Africa’s true image, especially its “high quality of culture”, that she said was not well represented. “Picking one case as representing the image of Africa was not proper” she emphasised. The Sullivan Summit, according to observers, could also provide a platform for clearing Africa`s image as a potentially peaceful and rich continent, which alone could trigger more investments into Africa`s back-bone infrastructure and lower the cost of international connectivity, which was now holding back Africa’s access to broadband Internet services. Leon H. Sullivan, an African American who was in the forefront in struggle for blacks rights, was the first black to be General Motors board member. From that time Sullivan has been convening several meetings that brought together Africans and rich African Americans, big businesspeople, investors and black anti racist activists to appeal for their contribution in kind and money to develop the African continent. Leon H Sullivan died in 2001 and then Leon. H. Sullivan Foundation was established in his honour for his efforts to develop Africans and their continent by ensuring the black Americans are contributing much for the development of Africa. Since its establishment, it has enabled 18,000 participants worldwide to go to Africa with the aim of building a bridge between Africa and United States. Though its underground campaigns, the Foundation has been working with US government, different organizations and the blacks leadership to facilitate debt cancellation, worth USD 60 billion, training in banking to 250 Africans.
SOURCE: Guardian