The Day, which was opened in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic, focussed on the topic "Parliamentary co-operation for Africa" and was a valuable occasion to underline the close connection between democracy and development to promote the growth of civil society and a renewed African presence at global level.
Today, Africa and the international community as a whole are called upon to establish new and more effective forms of dialogue and partnership. The great project of the African Union represents an essential step along this path, since regional integration will ensure peace and prosperity for the African continent to the extent that it can contribute to conflict prevention and management, as well as to the sharing and harnessing of moral and material resources, so as to direct African economy towards standards of quality and competitiveness that can help bridge the technology and production gap.
The African peoples have reached a turning point in their relations with the rest of the world by virtue of their assuming their responsibilities in a full and mature fashion, so that development models are not imposed from above, but emerge from the involvement and participation of African citizens in a framework of democratic rules.
Therefore, it is urgent for the international community as well to develop a new approach to the "African issue" - meant as a global and not just as a continental issue: to this effect it is imperative to support the NEPAD (New Partnership for African Development) in its attempt to go beyond a logic based exclusively on assistance and emergency aid, by enhancing integrated economic and trade relations with the industrialised world.
Italy is in the forefront in promoting this vision in all international fora, particularly the G8. Thanks to the Italian initiative, the Plan for Africa - which came to the fore in Genoa and is going to be officially adopted at the forthcoming Kananaskis summit - has finally identified a number of salient and innovative objectives, such as the access of African products to Western markets, increase in private investment, support for democratic decision-makers, the fight against brain drain and the overcoming of the debt-credit trap.
Euro-African dialogue is the keystone of a strategy leading to a lasting and sustainable development centred on human beings and on education. In this connection, the contribution that the European Union can make to the processes of economic and social integration and cohesion, by implementing the creation of the free-trade area planned both in the ACP Cotonou Agreement and in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, is essential. Indeed, Europe and Africa can thus establish a political and cultural network based on the promotion of democracy and the rule of law, in full respect of fundamental rights as a whole and of equality between men and women.
The proceedings of the Parliamentary Day highlighted the role of African Parliaments in the consolidation of democratic institutions, in the shaping of statehood and of responsible decision-makers. The recently established virtuous circle between political democracy and market economy has found its very source of legitimacy in parliamentary assemblies and is now shaping the new African path to development.
The debate focussed on the presentation delivered by Hon. Frene Ginwala, Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, on "The strengthening of representative institutions in the new African democracies", and by Hon. Ahmed Fathi Sorour, Speaker of the Egyptian Assembly, on "The role of Parliaments in co-operation between Europe and Africa". Parliaments can make a fundamental contribution to the new vision of a partnership between Europe and Africa, based on the increased awareness of both sides of the need for a common path.
In conclusion, the participants in the Parliamentary Day agreed on the need to:
- involve parliamentary assemblies as much as possible in the co-operation process between the newly-born African Union and the European Union, and notably the Pan African Parliament that is about to be established;
- launch initiatives of parliamentary co-operation both at bilateral and multilateral level, starting from the Interparliamentary Union and regional Interparliamentary Associations, so as to strengthen the role of Parliaments in international relations;
- recognise cultural diversities and launch communication strategies aimed at including the African continent in the network of global knowledge and information;
- establish - within individual Parliaments - working groups for the joint and co-ordinated monitoring of action programmes for Africa, also by organising study missions and fact-finding inquiries;
- exchange experiences on the drafting of rules for the transparency of public life and on the fight against corruption and the education to legality;
- carry out initiatives in support of a structured organisation of parliamentary administrations, including the training of parliamentary staff, the sharing of documentation sources and the application of new technologies.
