From Cecilia Banda in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

—Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, says African countries need to invest heavily in science and technology in order to overcome the challenge of under-development wide spread across the continent.

President Kikwete told Heads of States and Governments attending the 2013 Global Smart Partnership Dialogue in Dar es Salam that time was now ripe for African governments to deliberately set aside resources in their national budgets to develop science and technology to help solve some of the problems afflicting the continent.

President Kikwete posed the challenge to his counterparts when he officially opened the 2013 Smart Partnership Dialogue at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam last evening.

The Dialogue will be held from June 28 to July 1, 2013.

Zambia’s Vice President, Guy Scott, accompanied by his wife Charlotte and Education Deputy Minister, Neverlyn Willombe, arrived in Dar es Salaam last evening to attend the Dialogue.

Dr Scoot was met at Julius Nyerere International Airport by Tanzanian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mahadhi-Juma Maalim, Zambia’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Judith Kapijimpanga and her deputy, Elizabeth Phiri along with staff from the Zambian embassy.

Addressing the Heads of States and Governments, President Kikwete, who has a passion for science and technology and coined the theme of this year’s Dialogue as “Leveraging Technology for Africa’s Socio-economic Transformation”, noted that African countries were lagging far behind in technological advancements, hence forming the bulk of the under-developed nations.

President Kikwete called for a change of what he described as a sad situation, adding that African leaders should take the issue seriously by anchoring science and technology in their respective country development and strategic plans, warning that unless this was done, such a plan would be an exercise in futility.

“Science and technology is a pre-requisite for development and while many nations have taken strides to this end by creating awareness, a lot still needs to be done as most people lack access to use modern concepts in this field,” said President Kikwete.

President Kikwete, who is the host Patron of the 2013 Dialogue, also noted that most African countries have not leveraged the growth potential and benefits of science and technology due to inadequate resources.

He prodded the Heads of States and Governments to seriously discuss the issue of leveraging science and technology during the three-day Dialogue sessions in the quest to collectively develop the African continent.

“Let us create our own technology and knowledge base as a continent through scientific innovation and discoveries by discussing these issues during the next three days of the Dialogue,” said President Kikwete.

The Tanzanian leader said African can only make tangible progress in leveraging from science and technology if concerted efforts were made to invest in education of the youths as well as promoting and encouraging innovation.

“Be ready to make sacrifices in order to make advancements in life, research, development, science and innovation should be put in place in our regional policies and frameworks while making use of South-to-South cooperation to support our endeavours,” advised President Kikwete.

Meanwhile, Smart Partnership Chief Executive Officer and Joint convener, Mihaela Smith, said the 2013 Global Dialogue will be attended by 800 participants including youths from selected countries who will add their voices to the technological challenges faced by most African countries.

Over 10 Heads of States and Governments are attending the Dialogue, including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, King Mswathi of Swaziland, Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara among others.

Former Heads of States present at the Dialogue include Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, and Jerry Rawlings of Ghana who are bestowed with the status of Fellow Emeritus due to their involvement with the Smart Partnership Dialogue.