Africa must harness technology to ensure sustainable development - UN official

To effectively deal with the many tough and frustrating developmental challenges that confront Africa, a United Nations official has said the continent must take urgent steps to harness the power of modern technologies.

“The sustainable development of Africa is in our collective hands... Africa cannot afford to miss the opportunities that science and technology are now offering it,” the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Amoako, said at the International Livestock Research Institute, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “It’s all there in front of us. The time for speeches is past.”

Speaking at the 5th Annual Peter Doherty Distinguished Lecture entitled, “Harnessing Technologies for Sustainable Development in Africa,” Mr. Amoako highlighted the crucial role of science and technology in the continent’s fight against poverty. He particularly stressed biotechnology for health and agriculture, as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which he said were relevant to solving Africa’s most critical problems.

Mr. Amoako called on African governments to swiftly take advantage of the available opportunities to boost agriculture and ensure that the region does not miss the biotechnology revolution in the same way it missed the benefits of the earlier green revolutions.