Africa - PACF

On 7 December 2006 19 stakeholders representing business, knowledge institutions and government met at The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector and President's Special Initiative for the 3rd Stakeholder Seminar of partnerships4competitiveness.

Report from session H4: At the 9th Annual Conference of The Competitiveness Institute stakeholders involved in cluster-based competitiveness initiatives in Africa participated in a session to address the following questions:

Increasingly African stakeholders from business, academia and government emphasize the role of a competitive private sector as key in growth and poverty relief initiatives. This priority is largely supported by development partners from within and outside Africa.

On 22 March 2006 21 stakeholders representing business, knowledge institutions and government met at University of Ghana Business School to discuss new potentials and possibilities for increasing the competitiveness of, and value added production in, Ghanaian industries and businesses.

Under the theme "Stimulating Competitiveness for Sustainable Economic Development", the third regional conference in Africa will take place in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on September 3-7, 2006. Please note that the venue has changed and the conference will be in the Kunduchi Beach Hotel and Resort in Dar es Salaam. The Opening eremony will be on September 03 (Sunday) at 17 Hours.

With the initiative "partnerships4competitiveness" facilitated by TCI Commissioner for West Africa, Thomas Winther, key stakeholders of the West African nations of Ghana and Nigeria met to discuss and identify promising new partnerships to promote clusters, innovation and competitiveness.

Kazakhstan experts shared views on cluster development with Tanzania in an international workshop.

Following the kick off seminar in March, Thomas Winter who launched the partnerships4competitiveness initiative and TCI Commissioner for West Africa invites to the 2nd stakeholder meeting in the University of Ghana Business School in Legon.

The city of Johannesburg, in partnership with the University of Witwatersrand, recently launched the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE).