[pic] | KOMISIJA EVROPSKIH SKUPNOSTI |

Bruselj, 13.07.2006

COM(2006) 376 konč.

SPOROČILO KOMISIJE SVETU IN EVROPSKEMU PARLAMENTU

Medsebojno povezovanje Afrike: partnerstvo EU-Afrika za infrastrukturo {SEC(2006) 896} {SEC(2006) 983}

KAZALO

1. Odgovor na izzive infrastrukture za pospešitev razvoja Afrike 3

1.1. Razvojni izzivi 3

1.2. Nenehen boj Afrike 4

1.3. Afrika mora več vlagati v infrastrukturo 5

1.4. Povečanje vlaganj zahteva boljše sisteme in institucije za njihovo ohranjanje 5

2. Celinska in regionalna vizija Afrike 6

2.1. Afriška unija – privilegirani partner 6

2.2. NEPAD – Kratkoročni akcijski načrt za infrastrukturo (i-STAP) 6

2.3. Uresničevanje infrastrukturnih ciljev NEPAD-a pomeni početi stvari drugače 6

3. Pobuda Evropske unije: partnerstvo EU-Afrika za infrastrukturo 7

3.1. Cilji 7

3.2. Področje uporabe 7

3.3 Evropa prinaša strokovno znanje in izkušnje iz svojih vseevropskih omrežij 8

4. Partnerstvo v praksi 8

4.1.Institucionalno delovanje 8

4.2. Instrumenti izvajanja 9

4.3. Ukrepi 10

4.4. Usklajevanje z državami članicami EU, drugimi mednarodnimi organi in pobudami 12

4.5. Strategija za trajnostno partnerstvo 12

PRILOGA 14

SPOROČILO KOMISIJE SVETU IN EVROPSKEMU PARLAMENTU

Medsebojno povezovanje Afrike: partnerstvo EU-Afrika za infrastrukturo

Evropski svet je pri določitvi svoje strategije za Afriko sklenil, da je hitra, trajna in široko zasnovana rast bistvena za razvoj in boj proti revščini[1]. Eden od glavnih ukrepov, na katerih sloni strategija Sveta, je oblikovanje partnerstva EU-Afrika za infrastrukturo. Partnerstvo, ki temelji na skupnem prizadevanju EU, je odziv na razvojne cilje Afriške unije in Novega partnerstva za razvoj Afrike (NEPAD). Njegov cilj je bistveno povečati vlaganja EU v afriško infrastrukturo ter oskrbo s prometnimi, energetskimi in vodnimi storitvami ter storitvami informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije (IKT). Izboljšanje infrastrukture, povezanih storitev in regulativnega okvira bo prispevalo k trajnostni gospodarski rasti, pospešilo konkurenčno trgovino, ustvarilo delovna mesta in dostojno delo, spodbudilo regionalno integracijo in zmanjšalo revščino. Izpolnitev teh ciljev je odvisna tudi od nenehnih prizadevanj za krepitev miru in izboljšanje varnosti ter upravljanja v Afriki.

1. ODGOVOR NA IZZIVE INFRASTRUKTURE ZA POSPEšITEV RAZVOJA AFRIKE

Evropske in afriške raziskave kažejo, da lahko reševanje izzivov infrastrukture in povezanih storitev učinkovito prispeva k dosegu in ohranitvi 7-odstotnih stopenj rasti, potrebnih za uresničitev razvojnih ciljev novega tisočletja[2]. Partnerstvo naj bi se spoprijelo s temi izzivi.

1.1. Razvojni izzivi

Spodbujanje trajnostne gospodarske rasti: zmožnost Afrike, da bi začela vlagati v Afriko in pritegnila tuje neposredne naložbe, je precej odvisna od zanesljive infrastrukture in storitev, ki jih zagotavlja. To zahteva stabilno, varno in dobro vodeno gospodarsko okolje. Po nekaterih ocenah bi lahko enoodstotno povečanje v infrastrukturnem stanju prispevalo en odstotek k rasti BDP[3].

Pospeševanje konkurenčne trgovine: Afrika potrebuje učinkovit prometni in komunikacijski sistem, da bi svoje blago spravila na nacionalne, regionalne in mednarodne trge. Prevoz blaga v Afriki je težji in stane skoraj dvakrat toliko kot v drugih regijah v razvoju, zlasti je tako v neobalnih državah. Izboljšave v politiki in regulativna reforma trgovine, prometa in IKT, krepitev zmogljivosti in fizična infrastruktura lahko bistveno znižajo stroške prevoza in povečajo prevoz. Spodbujanje regionalne integracije: Afrika mora razširiti svojo trgovino. To zahteva zavezanost integraciji v okviru skladnih regionalnih trgovinskih sporazumov ter usklajenost infrastrukturnih politik in regulativnih okvirov. Dobre komunikacije in uporaba elektronskih tehnologij lahko pospešijo proces.

Učinkovito prispevanje k razvojnim ciljem novega tisočletja: danes še vedno več kot 300 milijonov ljudi – okoli 42 % afriškega prebivalstva – nima dostopa do varne vode. 60 % prebivalstva nima dostopa do osnovnih sanitarnih pogojev. Manj kot 20 % afriškega prebivalstva ima dostop do elektrike, omejitve porabe in prekinitve oskrbe z energijo pa so del vsakdanjika. To ovira ustvarjanje delovnih mest in industrijska vlaganja ter preprečuje proizvodnjo konkurenčnega blaga in storitev. Dostop do cenovno dostopne vode in sodobnih energetskih storitev, sanitarni pogoji in izboljšana higiena so bistvenega pomena za dosego vseh razvojnih ciljev novega tisočletja.

1.2. Nenehen boj Afrike

V devetdesetih letih so mnoge afriške države sprejele nove infrastrukturne politike, ki so pripeljale do velikih institucionalnih in finančnih reform za zagotovitev trajnostne infrastrukture. Čeprav je bil napredek dosežen, je treba narediti še veliko več, vključno z izboljšanjem upravljanja in regionalne integracije.

Prometni sistemi, čeprav šibki, se počasi izboljšujejo: cestni prevoz predstavlja 90 % medmestnega prevoza, toda fizične povezave in storitve so nezadostne. Železniško omrežje je redko in omrežja so slabo povezana med seboj. Mnoga morska pristanišča si prizadevajo ponujati konkurenčne storitve in celinske plovne poti so slabo vključene v prometna omrežja. Letalski prevoz ni v celoti izkoristil sprejetja Sklepa iz Yamoussoukra leta 1999. Kjer se izvajajo prakse, ki jih priporoča Program prometne politike podsaharske Afrike, se ceste izboljšujejo. Veča se učinkovitost tistih železnic in pristanišč, kjer so opravljanje storitev s koncesijami zaupali zasebnemu sektorju. Vendar pa stroški prevoza ostajajo visoki, mnogo višji kot v drugih regijah v razvoju, saj povprečno znašajo 14 % vrednosti celotnega izvoza v primerjavi z 8,6 % za vse države v razvoju, še višji pa so v mnogih neobalnih državah – Malavi (56 %), Čad (52 %) in Ruanda (48 %)[4].

Obilo energetskega potenciala, vendar neučinkovito izkoriščen: večina fosilnega goriva se izvozi. Obnovljivi viri se skoraj ne uporabljajo ali uporabljajo trajnostno in samo 7 % afriškega vodnega potenciala se pretvori v elektriko. Energetsko združevanje in povezovanje se lotevata problema nezanesljivih in dragih storitev. Okrepljeno nacionalno in čezmejno sodelovanje in trgovina na področju energetike sta bistvena za izboljšanje zanesljivosti, cenovne dostopnosti in dostopa.

Vodni viri so porazdeljeni neenakomerno in neredne padavine poslabšujejo pravičen dostop: mnoge afriške države trpijo zaradi obsežnih sezonskih padavinskih nihanj ter sušnih in poplavnih obdobij, ki ovirajo pridelavo hrane, varstvo ekosistema in gospodarski razvoj, zlasti med revnimi. Čezmejna porečja potrebujejo skupno upravljanje za ohranitev in pravično delitev virov – prednostna naloga Afriškega ministrskega sveta za vodo v njegovih prizadevanjih, da izdela Vizijo za afriške vode za leto 2025. Za izboljšanje dosegljivosti in dostopa do vodnih storitev na ravni držav je potrebno stabilno in varno finančno in vodstveno okolje.

Afriška komunikacijska tehnologija hitro zmanjšuje zaostanek, čeprav je dostop do storitev neenakomeren: povezanost s fiksnimi telefonskimi linijami, ki je najnižja na svetu, stalno narašča, vendar jo je prehitela izredna rast mobilnih telefonskih storitev[5]. Dostop na podeželju še vedno daleč zaostaja za dostopom v mestu. Digitalni razkorak, najširši na svetu, se počasi oži, ker regionalne gospodarske skupnosti in države usklajujejo politike in predpise o komunikacijah, vendar bi afriške telekomunikacijske storitve zaradi nezadostne regulativne reforme lahko postale najdražje na svetu.

1.3. Afrika mora več vlagati v infrastrukturo

Afriške vlade in razvojni partnerji so v devetdesetih letih močno zmanjšali del sredstev, namenjenih za infrastrukturo. Javnofinančni odhodki so padli globoko pod 4 % BDP, ki so potrebni za vzdrževanje in upravljanje infrastrukture, seveda ni mogoče govoriti o dodatnih naložbah v višini 5 % BDP, ki so potrebne za njen razvoj. To pomeni, da Afrika potrebuje dodatnih 20 milijard dolarjev letno za ohranjanje 7-odstotne rasti.

Podpora držav članic EU za gospodarsko infrastrukturo in storitve je v zadnjem desetletju padla, predvsem na področju prometa in delno na področju energetike. Kar zadeva delež skupne uradne razvojne pomoči (URP), so prevzete finančne obveznosti padle z 19 % v obdobju 1985–94 na 11 % v obdobju 1995–2004[6]. V zadnjem desetletju je ES ohranila višino finančne podpore za promet v podsaharski Afriki. Trenutno znaša 2 500 milijonov EUR v okviru 9. ERS. Po Svetovnem vrhu o trajnostnem razvoju leta 2002 se je financiranje na področju vode zaradi skladov za preskrbo z vodo in energijo povečalo s 475 milijonov EUR na 975 milijonov EUR in financiranje na področju energetike na 230 milijonov EUR. Dodelitev pomoči ES (ERS) za infrastrukturo v podsaharski Afriki znaša 3 750 milijonov EUR, 25 % 9. ERS. Proračunska pomoč za infrastrukturo za Severno Afriko v obdobju 2003–2005 (glej preglednico v prilogi) znaša 382,9 milijona EUR.

V prihodnosti bodo dodelitve za obe afriški podregiji iz ERS in proračuna EU odvisne od programiranja v poznejši fazi postopka na podlagi vsakokratnega finančnega okvira.

1.4. Povečanje vlaganj zahteva boljše sisteme in institucije za njihovo ohranjanje

1.4.1 Pridobljena znanja iz izkušenj

Nedavne ocene v sektorjih, ki jih pokriva to Sporočilo, navajajo, da je sta imeli politika in strategija ES pomembno vlogo pri izboljšanju vzdrževanja, kar je bil pomemben element sektorskega pristopa ES. Vendar je treba za zagotovitev trajnosti narediti še več. Izboljšanje osnovnega cestnega omrežja in pomorskih pristanišč je imelo pozitiven vpliv na razvoj trgovine in regionalno gospodarsko povezovanje. Zaradi povečanja dostopa do oskrbe z vodo in izboljšanja sanitarnih pogojev se je izboljšalo tudi preživljanje ljudi. Vse pridobljene izkušnje potrjujejo politiko ES o sektorskem pristopu. Na tem področju je koordinacija Komisije z afriškimi vladami in drugimi donatorji imela za posledico pomemben napredek, ki se bo še nadaljeval. Pripravlja se ocena o energiji.

1.4.2 Perspektive v prihodnosti

Afriška gospodarstva bodo koristi imela le, če bo storitve, ki jih bo zagotavljala izboljšana infrastruktura, mogoče ohraniti. Mnoge afriške države se srečujejo z vprašanji trajnosti – makroekonomska dostopnost, varne in zadostne finance za vzdrževanje, „tržno“ vodene institucije in subjekti z usposobljenim in zadostnim osebjem, zanesljivi podatki, ki slonijo na raziskavah, ukrepi za izboljšanje carin in trgovine, ublažitev vpliva na okolje in izvrševanje regulativnih okvirov. Še veliko bo treba narediti.

Oblikovanje razumnih institucionalnih in finančnih okvirov je dolgotrajen postopek. Le malo držav ima infrastrukturne sektorje, ki so dovolj trdni, da bodo preživeli brez zunanje podpore. Regionalna trajnost ni mogoča brez močnih državnih okvirov. Ti so bistvenega pomena za to, da bi afriška gospodarstva imela koristi od strogega izvajanja regionalnih protokolov in sporazumov o prometu, energiji, vodi in IKT.

2. Celinska in regionalna vizija Afrike

Voditelji držav Afriške unije (AU) so mir, varnost in dobro upravljanje opredelili kot bistvene za uspešen razvoj. Za resničen napredek Afrike na poti k uresničevanju razvojnih ciljev novega tisočletja je potrebna vizija na ravni celine. Oblikovanje NEPAD-a se je zgodilo v odločilnem trenutku v razvoju Afrike.

2.1. Afriška unija – privilegirani partner

Hitro razvijajoča se AU je privilegiran partner za EU. AU s svojim političnim pooblastilom za celotno celino olajšuje dialog z regionalnimi gospodarskimi skupnostmi in med njimi, kar je vse bolj pomemben dejavnik za medsebojno povezovanje Afrike. AU zagotavlja afriško lastno odgovornost, usmerja splošno politiko in zagotavlja celinsko integriteto partnerstva.

2.2. NEPAD – Kratkoročni akcijski načrt za infrastrukturo (i-STAP)

Maja 2002 je AU objavila Kratkoročni akcijski načrt za infrastrukturo (i-STAP) NEPAD-a, ki navaja, da je premostitev infrastrukturne vrzeli ključ za medsebojno povezanost, regionalno integracijo in gospodarsko rast. i-STAP določa cilje za infrastrukturne sektorje, ki so povezani z osrednjim ciljem zmanjševanja revščine. Obravnava sektorske izzive in opredeljuje odgovore na štirih področjih: (i) ukrepi podpore – politični in regulativni okviri, (ii) krepitev zmogljivosti, (iii) kapitalske naložbe in (iv) študije za nove projekte. i-STAP je spodbudil obsežen dialog med AU–NEPAD in donatorji, slednji, vključno z ES in državami članicami EU, pa so bili vključeni v njegovo posodobitev. i-STAP prinaša novo energijo, ki pospešuje izvajanje preizkušenih politik in dobre prakse.

2.3. Uresničevanje infrastrukturnih ciljev NEPAD-a pomeni početi stvari drugače

Prvič to pomeni veliko več denarja za infrastrukturo, da bi učinkovito prispevali k trajnostni gospodarski rasti. Med letoma 2005 in 2015 mora podsaharska Afrika porabiti približno 5 % svojega BDP za naložbe v infrastrukturo in dodatne 4 % za upravljanje in vzdrževanje – dodatni izdatek v višini 20 milijard USD na leto. Drugič to zahteva prenovljeno afriško lastno odgovornost in vodstvo v procesu določanja prednostnih nalog, napredek pri regionalni integraciji, razumno institucionalno in gospodarsko upravljanje ter pregledno javno naročanje. Tretjič, donatorji morajo razviti mehanizme oskrbe, ki bodo spodbudili javne in zasebne vire financiranja. Četrtič, vse strani si morajo prizadevati uresničevati svoje obveze iz Pariške deklaracije[7]. Petič, potrebna je močnejša vključenost zasebnega sektorja (ES bo novembra 2006 organizirala poslovni forum). Partnerstvo naj bi doseglo te cilje.

3. Pobuda Evropske unije: partnerstvo EU-Afrika za infrastrukturo

Partnerstvo, ki temelji na Strategiji EU za Afriko, je odziv EU na akcijski načrt NEPAD-a za infrastrukturo. Zagotavlja okvir za okrepitev skladnosti med ukrepi, ki jih sprejemajo ES in države članice EU, in za usklajeno usmerjanje njihovih prizadevanj za povečanje pomoči Afriki.

3.1. Cilji

Cilj partnerstva je podpreti programe, ki olajšujejo medsebojno povezovanje na ravni celine in na regionalni ravni. Ukrepi partnerstva bodo tudi dopolnili sektorski pristop EU k infrastrukturi na ravni države (okno 1) in prispevali k izvajanju sporazumov o gospodarskem partnerstvu (SGP). Ti pristopi bodo zagotovili, da bodo vlaganja na ravni celine in regionalni ravni skladna z nacionalnimi strategijami za zmanjševanje revščine in infrastrukturo. Tako dopolnjevanje bo povečalo trajnost ukrepov na regionalni ravni in ravni države. Priloga vsebuje kratke preglede sektorjev in zemljevide s čezafriškimi prometnimi koridorji in električnimi povezavami, porečji in omrežji IKT, ki bodo oblikovali ukrepe partnerstva.

3.2. Področje uporabe

Glavni cilj partnerstva je infrastruktura, ki zagotavlja medsebojno povezanost po vsej celini in njenih različnih regijah. Obsegala bo čezmejno, regionalno in nacionalno infrastrukturo v najširšem smislu: prometna omrežja, vodno in energetsko infrastrukturo in povezave ter omrežja IKT.

Partnerstvo se bo lotilo tudi vprašanj zagotavljanja storitev, ki so bistvene za odpravo ovir za trgovino v regijah in med njimi, pri čemer bo izkoristilo priložnosti, ustvarjene z liberalizacijo storitev in carinskimi reformami. Programi partnerstva bodo mešanica vlaganj v fizično infrastrukturo, institucionalnega razvoja in krepitve zmogljivosti ter podpore za politiko, ukrepe podpore in regulativne okvire, bistvene za učinkovito upravljanje infrastrukture in zagotavljanje storitev. Smernice EU in mednarodne smernice bodo merilo za izvajanje izčrpnih okoljskih in socialnih presoj vplivov. Najboljša praksa se bo uporabila za ublažitev možnih negativnih okoljskih in socialnih učinkov in za spodbujanje in krepitev pozitivnih učinkov.

Okno 1: Infrastruktura – sektorski cilji Promet – zmanjšati stroške in izboljšati kakovost storitev z odstranitvijo infrastrukturnih ovir in nefizičnih ovir za prost pretok blaga in oseb, krepitvijo carinskih postopkov, izboljšanjem vzdrževanja prometnih sredstev itd. z naslednjimi temami: trgovinski koridorji brez meja in ovir; boljše in varnejše ceste; konkurenčne železniške storitve; učinkovita pristanišča z moderno ribiško infrastrukturo in storitvami, ki izpolnjujejo ustrezne sanitarne pogoje, ter varna morja in pristanišča ter varno in učinkovito nebo in letališča. Voda in sanitarni pogoji – trajnostna raba razpoložljivih končnih vodnih virov za izpolnjevanje osnovnih potreb prebivalstva po vodi in sanitarnih pogojih ter izboljšanje celostnega upravljanja vodnih virov na lokalni ravni, ravni porečij/povodij, nacionalni in čezmejni ravni. Energija – v celoti razviti dostop do trajnostnih in dostopnih energetskih storitev za gospodarske in socialne sektorje, izboljšati okvire politike in institucionalno zmogljivost ter olajšati naložbe, potrebne za proizvodnjo, čezmejno medsebojno povezovanje, razširitev omrežja in distribucijo na podeželju. Informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije – premostitev digitalnega razkoraka z zagotovitvijo ustreznega dostopa do cenovno dostopnih informacijskih in komunikacijskih tehnologij s podporo za regulativno reformo in krepitev zmogljivosti ter razvojem vseafriške širokopasovne infrastrukture in nekomercialnih e-storitev, povezanih z regionalnimi in nacionalnimi omrežji. |

3.3 Evropa prinaša strokovno znanje in izkušnje iz svojih vseevropskih omrežij

EU lahko Afriki ponudi obsežno strokovno znanje, pridobljeno iz izkušenj z vseevropskimi omrežji za promet, energijo in telekomunikacije. To vodi do obsežne regionalne in medsebojno povezljive infrastrukture, ki dopolnjuje sektorske cilje države za dosego gospodarske rasti in integracije. EU je razvila načela (glej prilogo), ki (i) zagotavljajo natančno in jasno metodologijo za opredelitev glavnih nadnacionalnih osi in prednostnih projektov ter (ii) gradijo soglasje med državami in interesnimi skupinami glede uskladitve regulativnih okvirov. Tako znanje bo obogatilo dialog med AU in EU.

4. PARTNERSTVO V PRAKSI

Partnerstvo združuje vrsto institucij in interesnih skupin ter zahteva učinkovito interakcijo na ravni celine, regionalni ravni in ravni držav. Regionalne gospodarske skupnosti imajo svoje privržence, ki so geografsko široko razpršeni in prihajajo iz držav na različnih stopnjah razvoja. Nekatere države so članice dveh in v nekoliko primerih treh različnih regionalnih gospodarskih skupnosti. Zaradi tega večkratnega članstva je delovanje partnerstva bolj zapleteno.

4.1. Institucionalno delovanje

Ker partnerstvo deluje na treh ravneh – na ravni celine, regionalni in nacionalni ravni – bi se moralo pravilo subsidiarnosti uporabljati v splošnem okviru, ki zagotavlja minimalno usklajevanje, potrebno za uspešno in učinkovito delovanje.

4.1.1. Raven celine

AU-NEPAD občasno pregleda in posodobi i-STAP ter usklajuje opredeljevanje celinskih in regionalnih prednostnih nalog partnerstva. Te prednostne naloge bodo upoštevale programe regionalnih gospodarskih skupnosti in ukrepe držav, ki podpirajo partnerstvo, ter kakršno koli prilagoditev načel vseevropskih omrežij EU. AU-NEPAD in ES (sedež in delegacija EU v Etiopiji) si bosta izmenjala informacije in ugotovitve z državami članicami EU in Konzorcijem za infrastrukturo za Afriko.

4.1.2 Regionalna raven

Regionalno sodelovanje med ES in regionalnimi gospodarskimi skupnostmi je dobro uveljavljeno na podlagi Kotonovskega sporazuma o partnerstvu. Vključuje oblikovanje sporazumov o gospodarskem partnerstvu, katerih cilj je oblikovanje regionalnih trgov in olajšanje trgovine med regijami in znotraj njih ter zunanje trgovine s partnerji zunaj Afrike. Da bi zagotovili, da so partnerske in regionalne strategije hkrati skladne in se dopolnjujejo, bi morali regionalni okvirni programi predvideti podporo za okvire politike in regulativne okvire, ki povečujejo trajnost fizičnih naložb partnerstva. AU-NEPAD in ES (sedeži in regionalne delegacije EU) bosta spremljala naložbe, ki krepijo regionalna omrežja in sisteme.

Regionalno sodelovanje med EU (vključno z najbolj oddaljenimi regijami, zlasti s Kanarskimi otoki in otokom Reunion ter Madeiro), severnoafriškimi državami in njihovimi sredozemskimi sosedami poteka na podlagi več okvirov o sodelovanju. Ti vključujejo Evromediteransko partnerstvo, evropsko sosedsko politiko, njene akcijske načrte, pobudo Horizon 2020 in sredozemsko komponento Pobude EU za vodo. Dostop do financiranja na podlagi teh okvirov v okviru njihovih zadevnih zemljepisnih meja lahko podpre ukrepe partnerstva.

4.1.3. Raven države

Razvojno sodelovanje na ravni države je podlaga za uspeh in trajnost partnerstva na regionalni ravni in ravni celine. Sodelovanje med ES in posameznimi državami podsaharske Afrike je dobro uveljavljeno na podlagi Kotonovskega sporazuma. Podobno sosedska politika ES in povezani sporazumi urejajo sodelovanje s severnoafriškimi državami. ES in države članice EU so se dogovorile o prehodu k skupnim večletnim programom, ki temeljijo na razvojnih strategijah partnerske države[8]. Postopek vključuje posvetovanje z zasebnim sektorjem in civilno družbo, ki bi lahko zagotovilo priložnosti za financiranje zasebnega sektorja v partnerstvu. Tako je nacionalni okvirni program, ki se financira iz ERS ali proračunskih sredstev EU, določen v skupni državni strategiji.

Da bi zagotovili, da so partnerske strategije in strategije držav hkrati skladne in se dopolnjujejo, bi morali programi držav vključevati podporo za sektorske politike in ukrepe, ki povečujejo trajnost ukrepov partnerstva. AU-NEPAD bo tesno sodeloval z EU in njenimi delegacijami v državah pri spremljanju ukrepov držav, ki neposredno prispevajo k ciljem partnerstva.

4.2. Instrumenti izvajanja

Države članice EU so se zavezale, da bodo do leta 2010 svojo URP povečale na 0,56 % BND, pri čemer bo polovica od dodatnih 20 milijard EUR letno šla v Afriko. Države članice so se tudi zavezale, da bodo izboljšale učinkovitost pomoči – lastno odgovornost, usklajevanje, prilagajanje sistemom držav in usmeritev glede na rezultate. Izpolnjevanje teh zavez zahteva dosledno, usklajeno in skupinsko prizadevanje EU. Z razvojem splošne vizije partnerstvo zagotavlja okvir za povečanje pomoči za infrastrukturo in učinkovito doseganje rezultatov. Spodaj je opisanih več načinov za skupno delovanje EU.

4.2.1. Programljiva sredstva ERS

Regionalna in nacionalna sredstva: če se ohrani sedanja raven financiranja v okviru 9. ERS, bi se lahko v 10. ERS dodelitve za infrastrukturo povečale s 3 750 milijonov EUR na približno 5 600 milijonov EUR, pri čemer bi se precejšen delež namenil za financiranje ukrepov partnerstva.

Sredstva znotraj AKP: poleg financiranja iz skladov za preskrbo z vodo in energijo za podporo partnerstva še dodelitve v višini približno 600 milijonov EUR bodo razdeljena, kakor sledi:

- precejšen del skrbniškemu skladu za projekte kapitalskih naložb, ki jih predlagajo predlagatelji projektov, za financiranje z mešanico donacij in posojil. Te donacije bodo dodeljene v skladu s podrobnimi pravili skrbniškega sklada;

- del za financiranje, ki temelji samo na donacijah, za (i) krepitev zmogljivosti in podporo za regionalne pobude ter programe ukrepov podpore in (ii) podporo za odseke afriških omrežij, zlasti cestnih in vodnih, ki zaradi svoje narave niso primerni za financiranje s posojili;

- začetna donacijska podpora za tista omrežja in povezane storitve ali njihove dele, ki so opredeljeni kot vseafriški, za spodbuditev dodatnega financiranja z drugih strani.

4.2.2. Skrbniški sklad EU za infrastrukturo za Afriko

Skrbniški sklad je skupinski odziv EU in inovativen način za sofinanciranje (glej presojo vpliva) skupaj z EIB ter evropskimi in afriškimi institucijami za financiranje razvoja. Skrbniškemu skladu bo sredstva za donacije zagotavljala ES in vsaka država članica, ki bo želela prispevati. Donacije skrbniškega sklada naj bi pokrivale (i) subvencioniranje obrestnih mer, (ii) sofinanciranje z EIB, institucijami za financiranje razvoja in Afriško razvojno banko, (iii) mehanizme varščine za tveganja, ki jih obstoječi instrumenti še ne zajemajo, in (iv) donacije za pripravo projektov in krepitev zmogljivosti. Tako bodo donacije EU privabile in spodbudile dodatna posojila URP in finance zunaj URP.

Načela lastne odgovornosti in upravljanja skrbniškega sklada slonijo na „preprosti“ strukturi:

- usmerjevalni odbor, ki ga sestavljajo AU-NEPAD, Evropska komisija, EIB, donatorji in afriški akterji, ki zagotavljajo afriško lastno odgovornost, daje splošne smernice politike in določa prednostne naloge,

- izvršni upravljalni odbor, ki ga sestavljajo „donatorji, ki prispevajo“, ocenjuje in odobrava projekte,

- sekretariat partnerstva, ki ga vodi vodja skrbniškega sklada, za podporo usmerjevalnemu in izvršnemu odboru.

O podrobnih pravilih delovanja skrbniškega sklada se bodo dogovorili ustanovitveni člani. EIB bo odgovorna za vodenje prihodkov in odhodkov skrbniškega sklada.

Skrbniški sklad bo prejel 60 milijonov EUR iz sredstev znotraj AKP in EIB načrtuje posojila v višini med 220 milijoni EUR in 260 milijoni EUR za obdobje 2006–2007.

4.2.3. Okrepljeno usklajevanje in sofinanciranje

Samo zgoraj navedeni instrumenti financiranja, za katerimi stoji ES, ne bodo zadostovali. Dopolniti jih bo treba z drugimi načini sodelovanja, s hitrejšim uresničevanjem tesnejšega usklajevanja in razširitvijo skupnega sofinanciranja, financiranja iz združenih sredstev in priložnosti vzporednega financiranja.

4.3. Ukrepi

V skladu z i-STAP AU-NEPAD-a bodo ukrepi partnerstva razdeljeni v dve širši kategoriji: (i) ukrepi podpore in študije – „programska oprema“ ter (ii) fizične naložbe „strojna oprema“.

4.3.1. Na ravni celine in regionalni ravni

Partnerstvo bo podpiralo:

- načrtovanje in postavljanje v ospredje infrastrukturnih naložb, na katerih temeljijo regionalni in celinski glavni načrti za prometna in energetska omrežja, omrežja IKT in organizacije porečij;

- infrastrukturne dejavnosti, ki izkoriščajo trgovske priložnosti, ki so jih odprli sporazumi o gospodarskem partnerstvu, gradijo na izvajanju sporazumov o gospodarskem partnerstvu in izkoriščajo priložnosti liberalizacije storitev in carinske reforme;

- krepitev zmogljivosti v celinskih in regionalnih afriških institucijah ter raziskovalnih organih (dopolnjevanje podpore, ki jo zagotavljajo regionalni okvirni programi in 7. okvirni program RTR) – AU, Afriški ministrski svet za vodo, ministrski organi za energijo, Program prometne politike podsaharske Afrike, regionalni in celinski regulativni organi, organi civilnega letalstva, regionalna združenja za energijo itd.;

- usklajevanje in izvajanje mednarodnih in regionalnih sporazumov, predpisov in standardov za vse vrste prevoza, energijo, vodo in IKT;

- regionalno regulativno reformo, da bi spodbudilo zasebne naložbe iz domačih in tujih virov za učinkovito zagotavljanje infrastrukture in storitev;

- ukrepe za izboljšanje varnosti v zračnem (npr. s podporo projektov COSCAP) in pomorskem prometu ter varstva okolja in razširitev evropskih storitev satelitske navigacije (GALILEO), programa EU za posodobitev vodenja zračnega prometa (SESAR) in pobude Enotnega evropskega neba;

- svobodno in varno gibanje tranzitnega prometa po afriških koridorjih in čez meje;

- pripravljalne dejavnosti za bistvene investicijske in finančne študije za regionalne in celinske projekte partnerstva;

- zagotavljanje manjkajočih povezav in čezmejne infrastrukture v vseafriških prometnih, energetskih in informacijsko-komunikacijskih koridorjih in omrežjih (na podlagi načel odprtega dostopa);

- trajnostno in pravično upravljanje virov porečij in čezmejnih virov.

4.3.2. Na ravni držav

Partnerstvo bo:

- povečalo učinkovitost nacionalnih zakonodajnih in regulativnih okvirov ter podpiralo vključevanje in prenos mednarodnih in regionalnih sporazumov v te okvire;

- financiralo študije in naložbe v prometne (vključno z ukrepi za dosego mednarodnih standardov varnosti) in energetske projekte ter projekte IKT nacionalnega pomena, ki so del vseafriških koridorjev in omrežij;

- zagotovilo, da se v programih držav upošteva trajnost vseafriških koridorjev in omrežij;

- izkoristilo povezave s Pobudo EU za energijo, da bi olajšalo dostop do sodobnih in cenovno dostopnih energetskih storitev z bolj učinkovito uporabo virov, razširitvami omrežij in širšo uporabo obnovljivih virov, ter povezave s Partnerstvom za obnovljivo energijo in učinkovitost in Koalicijo iz Johannesburga za obnovljivo energijo;

- izkoristilo povezave s Pobudo EU za vodo, da bi zagotovilo dostop do oskrbe z vodo in sanitarnih pogojev v okviru trajnostnega in celostnega upravljanja vodnih virov.

4.4. Usklajevanje z državami članicami EU, drugimi mednarodnimi organi in pobudami

Uspeh partnerstva zahteva učinkovito usklajevanje, ki ga vodi AU-NEPAD, med ES in državami članicami EU ter vsemi drugimi akterji.

4.4.1. Usklajevanje z državami članicami EU

ES bo vodila usklajevanje podpore EU na podlagi dobro uveljavljenih skupin za usklajevanje, ki obstajajo na sektorski ravni, in obstoječih mehanizmov usklajevanja na ravni držav in regionalni ravni.

4.4.2. Usklajevanje z drugimi mednarodnimi pobudami in organi

Usklajevanje med EU, EIB in Svetovno banko, vodilnimi pri financiranju infrastrukture, je dobro razvito; dobro napreduje tudi usklajevanje z Afriško razvojno banko. ES bo prav tako nadaljevala sodelovanje z Mednarodno organizacijo za civilno letalstvo (ICAO) in Mednarodno telekomunikacijsko zvezo (ITU).

Usklajevanje s Konzorcijem za infrastrukturo za Afriko, svetovalnim forumom, ki ne financira infrastrukture, ampak si prizadeva povečati naložbe v infrastrukturo, je lažje zaradi članstva v EU. ES daje Konzorciju močan glas EU ter skupno vizijo in strategijo.

4.5. Strategija za trajnostno partnerstvo

Izkušnje in spoznanja ES, pridobljena iz ocen, poudarjajo, da lastna odgovornost upravičenca in trajnost sektorja ostajata ključna za trajnostno infrastrukturo. Brez pravočasnega in ustreznega vzdrževanja infrastrukturnih omrežij se storitve, ki jih uporabniki in upravičenci zahtevajo, ne bodo zagotavljale trajnostno. Partnerstvo bo:

- poskušalo pridobiti zavezo vlade na politični ravni za dobro upravljanje v vseh infrastrukturnih sektorjih;

- podpiralo pristope po sektorjih na ravni države, ki vključujejo infrastrukturo in povezane storitve;

- oblikovalo skladnost med dejavnostmi držav, regij in celine v okviru partnerstva;

- spodbujalo udeležbo zasebnega sektorja, kjer je to ustrezno, prek javno-zasebnih partnerstev;

- podpiralo infrastrukturo, ki je varna, ustrezna, odgovarja potrebam moških in žensk ter upošteva rezultate ocen vplivov na družbo in okolje.

Pri razvoju partnerstva ES predlaga, da se omogoči vrsta dogodkov z Afriško unijo, regionalnimi gospodarskimi skupnostmi, državami članicami EU in mednarodnimi partnerji za razvoj, da bi partnerstvo začelo delovati. Ti bodo vključevali:

- celinsko srečanje na visoki ravni v Afriki za zagon partnerstva;

- vrsto srečanj na visoki ravni in sektorskih srečanj na regionalni ravni, ki naj bi pomagala opredeliti ukrepe partnerstva,

in na splošno bo Komisija:

na vseh ravneh nadaljevala dialog z afriškimi partnerji in evropskimi zainteresiranimi stranmi pri opredeljevanju in izvajanju prednostnih nalog partnerstva in pri njegovem delovanju.

ANNEX

Sectoral overview, methodology and maps of the trans-African transport corridors, the continental electricity interconnections and river basins and ICT networks

This annex gives a brief overview of each sector - transport, energy, water and ICT. It also outlines the basis for a dialogue between the EU and the AU for moving the Partnership forward and delivering what Africa expects from its infrastructure and services. To facilitate the dialogue between stakeholders, maps of continental and regional transport, energy and ICT networks and of river basins are included. The maps are based on AU-NEPAD strategies and reflect the current progress on the dialogue; they should be regarded as indicative.

A methodology for prioritising EU operations

To guide the decision-making process on setting priorities for EU operations within the EU-Africa Partnership, a two-stage process is summarised below. The process is adapted from the methodology used for extending the trans-European networks. It will be further developed in the course of the ongoing EU-AU dialogue to reflect the AU-NEPAD criteria and will be used as a framework for reaching a consensus between stakeholders.

The first stage is to identify the major trans-African corridors and networks connecting countries, which are most relevant to international exchanges and traffic and to strengthening regional integration and continental cohesion. Various criteria will be jointly agreed under two main categories – institutional and functional.

The second stage is to prioritise projects on the selected trans-African corridors and networks. This process will cover a full project appraisal, which will include, inter alia:

- a firm commitment by the region, country or countries and entities concerned to implement the project, including a clear demonstration of the benefits of the project and how it responds to different demands, a realistic and affordable financing plan and an implementation timetable,

- an analysis of the benefits of the project in terms of its economic and financial, institutional, environmental and social impact. These analyses will take account of the ways in which projects contribute to economic efficiency, environmental sustainability, improved safety and security, etc.

Partnership operations to improve infrastructure along trans-African corridors and networks alone are not enough. These operations need to be supplemented by “facilitation measures” that ensure efficient movement of traffic along corridors and networks and minimum delays at borders. Such measures include, inter alia, harmonisation of transit transport and trade regulations and procedures, technical and administrative interoperability, implementation of new technologies, such as traffic management and electricity grid systems, and measures to improve safety and security. The EU operations will include a balance of physical investment and facilitation measures.

The EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure: Transport

A brief overview

Physical links in Africa fall well short of expectations and the infrastructure and services network remains under-developed. Road transport is the dominant mode, accounting for 90% of inter-urban transport.

Roads linking sub-regions are modest and road conditions vary from region to region, and within regions and countries. Road conditions are improving in many African countries where the practices advocated by the Sub-Saharan African Transport Policy Programme (SSATP)[9] are being implemented. Sustaining these road conditions demands more revenue for maintenance. Although sufficient revenue may exist in just a few countries, the current revenue of road maintenance funds covers approximately 40% of network needs. The increasing number of semi-autonomous road agencies is encouraging and makes increasing government and donor investments more sustainable. Such changes are leading to increased private sector involvement in roads. Progress over the past 10 years has been commendable, particularly given the fragile economy of many African countries. Governments must, however, redouble their efforts to increase their network maintenance.

Road maintenance remains a major problem for many African road agencies. Deferred maintenance has resulted in the loss of one third of the capital invested in the SSA road network. Maintenance budgets also remain an easy target for governments seeking savings; these are usually false economies. Deteriorating road conditions impose extra costs on road users in the form of increased vehicle operating costs or higher freight tariffs and passenger fares in the case of commercial operations. The EU has developed a sectoral approach[10] to tackle the issue of road maintenance.

Experience has defined fundamental principles for the EU’s sectoral approach to sustainable road maintenance. These are:

- Involving stakeholders: as most maintenance revenue is raised from user charges, road users and beneficiaries are demanding to know where and how funds are spent. Stakeholders are increasingly involved in prioritising road maintenance in country poverty reduction strategies and sit on the boards of road funds and road agencies.

- Securing finance: road funds are proving an effective means of managing maintenance revenue, largely based on a fuel maintenance levy. Where road funds operate under “2nd generation” principles the traditional objections of fiscal earmarking tend to disappear.

- Restructuring institutions: road networks have to be managed as a business. This means defining clear responsibilities between the many road organisations, introducing effective management information, accounting and auditing systems, using the private sector for service and works delivery and paying professionals adequately. One effective way to address all these issues is to create autonomous road agencies outside the civil service.

- Updating standards and regulations: ensuring that road networks cause minimum negative social and environmental impact, responding to the different needs of men and women, taking account of HIV/AIDS, improving road safety and controlling vehicle overloading call for updating and effectively enforcing standards and regulations.

Shipping is served by some 60 major ports with facilities ranging from conventional berths to container, oil and bulk cargo (see the map of the trans-African transport corridors). Many ports struggle to offer competitive services due to inadequate equipment and complex regulations. Similary, fishing ports, which could play a major role in the economic development of coastal countries, very often have inadequate facilities and services for handling local and foreign vessels and infrastructure for the storage and processing of fish products. Where the private sector is involved in concessions for container terminals and port management, port services are becoming more efficient, e.g. in Maputo, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

Africa is endowed with many lakes and rivers, yet few countries integrate inland waterway transport into a regional system. Exceptions are the countries surrounding Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika and the countries along the River Congo.

Railway coverage is sparse and where it exists density is low at 3 kilometres per 1 000 square kilometres (see the map of African railways). Africa’s railways date back to the colonial period and were built to harness the mineral and agricultural resources of the continent. No regional or continental African railways network exists. Railways are expensive to construct and equip, require a higher degree of management skills and must be highly used if they are to be financially viable. Railway services are slowly being concessioned to the private sector. This is a long process involving a lengthy lead time to financial closure. It also demands considerable restructuring of the railway corporations, involving retrenchment with its consequent negative social impact. Returns to the concessionaire are only gradually emerging and should be considered a medium- and long-term prospect.

Air transport has not fully benefited from the adoption of the Yamoussoukro Decision in 1999, which pushes liberalisation of access to the region’s air transport market. SADC is the most integrated region. Full implementation of the Decision is hampered by poor competition rules and protectionist measures for national airlines. Similarly, efficient air services are hindered by limited investment in airport infrastructure, which often needs modernisation if it is to meet international safety and security standards.

Overall transport infrastructure quality is slowly improving but is not always matched by simplification and harmonisation of operational issues. These include cumbersome customs and administrative procedures, illegal roadblocks, conflicting regional trade arrangements, etc. Consequently, transport costs are high, averaging 14% of the value of all exports compared with 8.6% for all developing countries, and higher still for many landlocked countries – Malawi (56%), Chad (52%) and Rwanda (48%).

A basis for dialogue: interconnecting trans-African corridors and regional networks

Reducing the cost and improving the quality of transport services is central to the transport-related part of EU development policy. This means removing infrastructure and non-physical barriers to free movement of goods, services and people, improving maintenance of transport assets, etc. and pursuing the sectoral objectives of trade corridors without borders and barriers; better and safer roads; competitive rail services; efficient ports and safe seas and ports; and safe, secure skies and airports. And, complementary investment in communciations infastructure will lead to a more efficient flow of transit traffic along corridors and regional networks. EU programmes support these objectives and match the focus on interconnectivity at regional and continental level.

The trans-African corridors and the regional road network linking the corridors to country networks are shown on the map below. It is mainly based on work carried out by the African Development Bank in coordination with the RECs and includes information received from other donors. The continental corridors and regional networks reflect a vision of a more interconnected and better integrated Africa, which matches AU-NEPAD’s aspirations.

Eight main trans-African corridors are identified, extending over a total length of 37 500 km of which 14 300 km are in poor condition or “missing links”. There is also an extensive network of regional roads linking capitals, production areas, etc. that form an integral part of the trans-African corridors. Further analysis is required to establish the condition of this regional network and to prioritise its investment needs. The eight main trans-African corridors are:

Dakar–N’Djamena: The “trans-Sahelian highway” is approximately 4 500 km long and crosses seven countries: Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad. Almost 35% of the corridor is in poor condition, especially stretches in Senegal and Mali.

The Nouackchott–Lagos corridor is approximately 4 500 km long and crosses all twelve coastal countries between Mauritania and Nigeria. It provides the most direct road connection between the capitals of the countries. Approximately 28% of the corridor is in poor condition.

The Khartoum–Djibouti corridor is approximately 1 900 km long and links Sudan and Ethiopia to the port of Djibouti. Road conditions vary from good to fair, except for two stretches of approximately 330 km in Djibouti and Ethiopia that are in poor condition.

The Lagos–Mombasa corridor is approximately 6 300 km long and connects the ports of West Africa (Nigeria and Cameroon) and East Africa (Mombasa), providing the landlocked Central African countries with access to the coast. Road conditions are poor along almost 53% of the corridor, especially in the Central African Republic, DRC and Uganda.

The Cairo–Gaborone corridor is the major trans-African corridor, approximately 8 900 km long. Road conditions vary along the corridor, with almost 33% in poor condition.

The N’Djamena–Windhoek corridor is approximately 6 200 km long and links seven countries (Chad, Cameroon, CAR, Congo, DR Congo, Angola and Namibia). Approximately 45% of the corridor is in poor condition.

The Beira-Lobito corridor is approximately 3 500 km long and connects the port of Beira with Harare and continues to Lusaka. It links four countries: Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola. Approximately 45% of the corridor is in poor condition, particularly in Angola.

The Dar Es Salaam–Kigali corridor - the East-African central corridor - is 1 700 km long and connects the landlocked countries of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda to the port of Dar Es Salaam. Road conditions vary, with about 500 km, especially in Tanzania, in poor condition.

The map does not show the well-developed corridors in South Africa nor the corridors linking South Africa to its neighbours, e.g. the Johannesburg-Maputo corridor. For North Africa, which has a better developed network, the map shows only the Cairo-Agadir corridor.

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The EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure: Energy

A brief overview

In Africa access to modern energy services remains very low. Less than 20% of Africa’s population has access to electricity and for them power rationing and cuts are part of the daily routine. This inhibits job creation, industrial investment and entrepreneurial development, and impedes production of competitive goods and services. Wider use of modern, sustainable and affordable energy services will improve the efficiency of health and education services, reduce deforestation and ease the daily burden that women bear in Africa. The EU Energy Initiative (EUEI) launched at the WSSD provides the policy framework for the EC and EU Member States to channel their efforts towards increasing access to modern energy services. The 9th EDF ACP-EU Energy Facility (€220 million) recently launched a call for proposals that will be able to co finance investments in rural energy access, to support governance and management in the energy sector and to facilitate investments in cross-border energy interconnections and cooperation. These EU operations are also complemented by actions carried out under the JREC initiative.

Africa’s substantial indigenous energy resources, fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) and renewable sources (hydro, biomass, biofuel, wind, geothermal and solar) are inefficiently used. Most fossil fuel is exported. The rising world market price of oil has a marked negative impact on the GDP of oil-importing countries, particularly the LDCs. Renewable resources are under-used and only 7% of Africa’s hydropower potential is converted into electricity.

Increased national and cross-border energy cooperation and trade is essential to improve reliability, affordability and access. It is acknowledged that the traditional approach of limiting energy planning and service provision to nation states has a negative effect on development of the energy sector in Africa. Nation-based planning is sub-optimal in several respects: (a) the geography of energy supply options does not necessarily correspond to political boundaries, since the cleanest and cheapest energy source may lie across national borders; (b) national energy markets are often too small to justify the investments needed to harness certain energy supply options; (c) the difficulties involved in the delivery of energy services in remote areas due to weak planning frameworks and regulations; (d) local and cross-border energy supply often allows diversification of energy sources – a key component in energy security.

Steps are being taken to integrate regional energy systems. Progress is being made on improving power distribution through regional power pools, interconnected electricity grids and plans for regional power development. The Southern African and West African Power Pools are increasing the transit capacity for electricity interchange between the countries concerned. Central and East Africa have established their power pools. These are just the first steps, and much more needs to be done.

Similarly, the RECs are promoting cooperation on the development of gas and hydropower resources. Some cross-border schemes already exist, for example, the Kariba South power station between Zambia and Zimbabwe and the Ruzizi hydroelectric station between Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda. Other hydropower generating facilities have bilateral agreements that play a key role in cross-border trade in electricity. At the same time individual countries are continuing to develop renewable energy sources for decentralised generation of electricity, which can be suitable solutions for increasing access in rural areas.

The EU’s recent Green Paper on energy[11] sees interconnection of energy systems as one of the priority areas. Other priorities include the international promotion of the rational use of energy and renewable energy, which requires dialogue with between producer, and consumer countries. Interconnectivity would help Europe to diversify its sources of supply, while upgraded and new infrastructure would improve the security of energy supplies. Within the context of the Partnership, concrete measures are needed to develop energy partnerships with producer and transit countries. The Partnership could also improve the development of energy and transport facilities (especially in ports) of producer countries that allows more efficient use of their resources and attracts foreign investment.

Within the thematic programme of “Environment and sustainable management of natural resources, including energy” the EUEI, JREC and the future COOPENER programme will be able to support the EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure. The COOPENER programme could provide institutional support for improving access to sustainable energy services and actions aimed at improving energy security, e.g. by stimulating regional cooperation between countries, the private sector and non-governmental organisations for promoting regional interconnectivity.

A basis for dialogue: a focus on interconnectivity

The map shows the main electricity interconnections identified by NEPAD and RECs. It will guide the dialogue to identify priority action and the financial set-up.

NEPAD i-STAP refers to the power pools as the entities responsible for implementing the projects. The power pools include national utilities of member countries that are responsible for optimising use of regional energy resources and country-to-country support during an energy crisis.

The power pools are based on a multitude of legal documents, such as inter-governmental, inter-utility agreements, agreements between operating members and operating guidelines. The present situation with the power pools in the continent is as follows:

North African region: the Maghreb Union, COMELEC, which includes Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

Southern African region : Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) - DRC, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa.

West African region : West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) - Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cape Verde.

Central African region: Central Africa Power Pool (CAPP) - Cameroon, Gabon, Chad, CAR, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, Congo and Angola. Applications from Rwanda and Burundi are being processed.

East African region : Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) - Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. Participation by Eritrea, Somalia and Tanzania is on hold.

Among these power pools, SAPP and WAPP are more mature than CAPP and EAPP, which are very recent. This is reflected on the map, which shows that interconnections in the WAPP and SAPP regions are more clearly defined than in the EAPP and CAPP regions. Some of the interconnections shown on the map are being implemented or are near financial closure.

NEPAD i-STAP envisages support for:

- projects of continental relevance - identified by a bold, dotted line,

- regional power pools - identified by a lighter dotted line,

- capacity-building activities, especially for power pools, NEPAD, AUC, AFREC and regulatory institutions, some of which will be financed by the EUEI Energy Facility.

NEPAD has also identified the Nigeria-Algeria gas pipeline as a priority, together with other oil and gas projects, such as the West Africa gas pipeline (under construction), the Kenya-Uganda oil pipeline and the Tunisia-Libya gas pipeline.

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The EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure: Water

A brief overview

Water resources are unevenly distributed and erratic rainfall exacerbates equitable access. Many African countries suffer large seasonal rainfall fluctuations and periodic cycles of drought and flood. Climate change will exacerbate the extremes of variability of water availability. As a result, the population living in water-scarce countries in Africa will rise to over 400 million by 2010, mainly located in North Africa. These levels of water scarcity constrain food production, ecosystem protection and economic development, particularly among the poor.

Most of Africa’s water resources are shared and cross borders. Transboundary river basins need joint management for conservation and equitable resource sharing. Integrated water resource management provides such a framework and will also promote peace and security in transboundary water basins. This framework is crucial as some countries’ resources originate beyond their borders, for example Mauritania (95%) and Botswana (94%). There are some 60 international river and lake basins in Africa, although fewer than 10 have the cooperation agreements necessary for sustainable management and equitable sharing of resources between riparian states. One notable example of cooperative water resource management is the Nile Basin Initiative, a partnership between the Nile riparian states led by the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs. It aims to achieve sustained socio-economic development through equitable use of the common Nile Basin water resources. Creating new river basin organisations and revitalising existing organisations is one priority of the African Ministerial Council on Water in its efforts to deliver the African Water Vision for 2025.

More effective management of water resources is needed to improve water security and the affordability of water services at country level and to contribute effectively to the MDGs. Today over 300 million people – some 42% of Africa’s population - still have no access to safe water. Similarly access to basic sanitation is denied to 60% of the population. Without clean water and good sanitation, diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases will multiply. Food security and economic productivity will be threatened and HIV/AIDS treatment will be less effective. Africa has potential for hydropower production of about 1.4 million GWh per year. Currently, however, despite the immense possibilities, hydropower generation represents less than 5 percent of the electricity generated. Water for industrial use is also very low and accounts for only 6 percent of water used. Integrated water resource management at a basin level provides the framework for managing these competing demands for water.

Making better use of scarce resources through better water management, efficient irrigation, reducing leakage and waste and avoiding pollution are all necessary in order to reap the estimated economic benefit of US$ 22 billion when Africa achieves its water and sanitation MDGs. More efficient, more sustainable water use and basin management should also contribute to the goals of halting or reversing the current loss of natural resources and biodiversity by 2015.

Therefore, strong political will and financial commitment to joint management, development and harnessing of transboundary water will contribute to reducing poverty at local level. Better use of water at country level will enable national authorities to expand access to water and sanitation at more affordable prices. This, however, depends on balancing investments between infrastructure provision, governance and providing national and local authorities with the capacity effectively to manage and monitor water resources and service provision.

A basis for dialogue - transboundary water management in Africa

There is a need to get riparian states to cooperate on the use of the resources of shared rivers and ground water basins. This involves (i) preparing water resources management plans that address the needs of all users and respect the needs of the environment, and (ii) developing the infrastructure (dams, irrigation systems, water supplies, hydro-electric power) that is needed to reduce vulnerability to droughts, to manage floods better, to ensure more water, more food and more electricity in a way that takes account of the needs of the river system itself. This means laying a strong foundation for cooperative action and for future investment projects to follow the decision-making framework of the World Commission on Dams Report of 2000.

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is central to EC development policy related to water, to the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) and the Africa-EU Partnership on water affairs and sanitation launched at the WSSD. As a result of the EUWI, €10 million from 9th EDF is being used to support transboundary management in five basins in Africa (Niger, Volta, Lake Chad, Kagera and Orange/Senqu). The 9th EDF ACP-EU Water Facility (€500 million) is also supporting transboundary water management and the establishment and reinforcement of river basin authorities as well as investments at the national and local level. These Water Facility operations are complementary to investments by the National Indicative Programmes. Funds from the ACP-EU Water Facility have been allocated to the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI - €18 million), the Niger and the Senegal (€2 million each). The EC is thereby supporting regional water management in specific fields:

- Establishment of and support for the “Shared Vision Programme” in the Nile and the Niger. This provides the basic framework for sustainable use of shared water resources and is a prerequisite for sound investment in infrastructure.

- Support for existing basin authorities (Senegal, Orange/Senqu and Lake Chad) and for the establishment of new ones (Volta).

- Multi-purpose basin development addressing the different water uses, as part of the NBI.

- In the field of disaster preparedness, support for a flood preparedness programme in the Eastern Nile for Ethiopia and Sudan, as part of the NBI.

- Knowledge and monitoring of water resources for better management. The EC is supporting the HYCOS Programme (Hydrological Cycle Observing System) and the establishment of a pan-African water information system.

Building on this substantial and varied support already provided by the EC for transboundary basin management in Africa, further opportunities will be developed to respond to AU-NEPAD/REC priorities. Funds from the ACP-EU Water Facility will support the start-up phase of this process. Initially, the focus must be on basins prioritised by NEPAD in its 2005 STAP for Transboundary Water Management (Niger, Senegal, Congo, Lake Chad, Nile, Okavango and Zambezi) and on expanding support for other basins, particularly:

- Establish and support for “shared vision programmes” as the framework for sustainable use of shared water resources and a prerequisite for sound investment in infrastructure.

- Establish and support for basin authorities and building their capacities, as a necessary foundation for sustainable infrastructure development.

- Contributions to project preparation and implementation to complement existing instruments (within the AfDB, NEPAD, SADC, etc.).

The programme of action will be developed and implemented in close collaboration with African institutions (AU-NEPAD, AMCOW, RECs, AfDB) and other donors (such as Germany which has undertaken a programme to initiate support for the Congo basin).

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The EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure: ICT

A brief overview

The uptake of ICTs in Sub-Saharan Africa has been hampered by the non-existence of appropriate regulatory frameworks and the inadequacy of infrastructure. The number of fixed telephone lines is minimal and the waiting period for a telephone connection may be several years. Fortunately mobile telephony and pre-paid cards are solving many of Africa’s communication problems. Additionally, Africa is wasting US$400 million each year by intra-African telecom traffic that transits outside Africa because of a lack of interconnections and clearing houses. Large bandwidth at reasonable costs remains an issue for landlocked countries. Building on the broad experience of the EU and following the 2nd phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Communication “Towards a Global Partnership on the Information Society: Follow up to the Tunis Phase of the WSIS” of April 2006 - paved the way for addressing the digital divide in developing regions, notably Africa.

A basis for dialogue: regulatory reform, broadband and non-commercial e-application investment

Support to Regulatory Reform: It is widely recognised that the private sector can play a major role in ICTs. Even in Africa where many incumbent operators are still state-owned, several governments have privatized their fixed-telecom operator. Moreover, the mobile telecom operators are mainly in the hands of the private sector, local or foreign. To attract the private sector a stable legal environment and an appropriate regulatory framework are needed.

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Figure 1: ICT competition This map compares monopolistic or competitive practices in services such as local, domestic long-distance, international, wireless local loop and mobile. Source: ITU | Figure 2: Independent regulators Full autonomy implies national regulatory authorities that are independent from political and financial pressures and that are staffed by appropriately trained professionals. Source: ITU |

The boundaries, colours, denomination and any other information shown on these maps do not imply, on the part of the European Commission, any judgment on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. |

Therefore, while ensuring that the social aspects of liberalisation are considered, it is recommended that action be directed towards:

- establishing and consolidating national and regional ICT strategies, which support poverty reduction strategies;

- creating national and regional regulatory frameworks for electronic communications that ensure a level playing field and facilitate competition whereby competing firms are assured of equal access to technology and fair pricing;

- establishing independent national regulatory authorities.

Activities could consist of assistance measures to manage the transition to liberalised telecommunications markets in order to facilitate network interconnection and interoperability of services, while fostering the reduction of telecommunication costs and the introduction of new technologies. This would include training activities, technical assistance and sharing of good practices for regional policy makers and regulators.

To implement these activities, the Commission will favour a sub-regional approach in order to take benefit of an economy of scale and to promote the emergence of broader markets.

Investment in technologically neutral broadband infrastructure: There are presently several broadband technologies options for rolling out a broadband infrastructure on the African continent: wireless technologies, including satellite, wire-line technologies (e.g. optical fibre networks, but also power line communications) and a combination of these.

Support to the deployment of a broadband infrastructure at pan-African level should be based on a technologically neutral approach with choices between the different options relying on current and planned ICT infrastructures and considerations related to deployability, bandwidth, coverage and cost.

Principal backbones infrastructure, existing and planned, in Africa

EASSy : Submarine cable running along the African East Coast that would close the ring around Africa.

COMTEL : this consortium is entirely composed of incumbent telco covering 21 countries, reflecting the COMESA membership basis of the organisation.

Central African ring : This is a network infrastructure proposed by Celtel, that would link a range of countries including: Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Bukoba in Eastern DRC.

COM-7 : This route proposed by Com-Africa connects seven countries in East and Southern Africa. It has no incumbent telco involvement.

West-East-West linkages E2-E3-E4-E5 : The trans-Sahel backbone linking Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Uganda . A redundant ring could also be created by linking with the Central African backbone by continuing South through Chad via Cameroon to Gabon, taking advantage of the Cameroun-Chad fibre backbone that has been laid along the oil pipeline.

There is a consensus that in circumstances where the market does not deliver, state-intervention should not be excluded. Such situations include (i) the rural sector, (ii) trans-border communications; (iii) post-conflict situations, (iv) networks that are operated by the governments for internal usage (in principal to be avoided), and (v) broadband networks that are operated according to the “Open Access Principle.”

Non-commercial e-services: The objective would be to promote the usage of the underlying ICT infrastructures thus encouraging further investment through the development of e-applications and services of high societal impact such as education, health, agriculture, environment and e-government.

The development of projects in these domains should exploit synergies with EU programmes and initiatives such as trans-European Networks for Telecommunications, TEN-Telecom, i2010, the EU Research and Development Framework Programmes, the Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDABC) Programme, or the recent established co-operation between ESA and DEV to promote telemedicine through satellites. Examples of these are:

- Research and Education Networks: the aim would be to improve the connectivity of African national research and education networks and to interconnect them with the EU’s GÉANT2. This would integrate African researchers into global research communities and limit the “brain drain”.

- The recently established collaboration between the ESA and DEV to promote telemedicine through satellites should be furthered. A task force composed of the relevant African Organizations, the WHO, EC and ESA has been set up to identify a framework of appropriate actions for a telemedicine program in sub-Saharan Africa. The TTF activities will be complemented by an analysis of the cost benefits of the implementation and by a study of system architecture and related costs of a pan-African satellite-based telemedicine.

- e-government between the AUC and its Member countries in a similar way to the EU’s Interchange of Data between Administrations programme,

- the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative that will connect 600,000 African schools to the Internet and provide better education to the millions of children,

- the adaptation to the needs of Africa of the products and services developed by the EU Research and Development Framework Programmes in the field of e-learning, telemedicine and e-government.

EC commitments to transport, energy, water and sanitation, and ICT in Africa (€) Sub Saharan Africa commitments are EDF, North Africa commitments are EU budget resources |

2003 | 2004 | 2005 | Total |

Transport Sub Saharan Africa North Africa | 628,000,00096,000,000, | 401,400,000 43,000,000 | 807,400,000 19,000,000 | 1,836,800,000 158,000,000 |

Energy Sub Saharan Africa North Africa | 500,000 - | 6,300,000 8,600,000 | 4,000,000* - | 10,800,000 8,600,000 |

Water and sanitation Sub Saharan Africa North Africa | 169,200,000 31,700,000 | 137,900,000 77,900,000 | 313,900,000** 102,700,000 | 621,000,000 212,300,000 |

ICT Sub Saharan Africa North Africa | 11,100,000 - | 21,000,000 4,000,000 | - - | 32,100,000 4,000,000 |

Total Sub Saharan Africa North Africa Grand total - Africa | 808,800,000 127,700,000 936,500,000 | 566,600,000 133,500,000 700,100,000 | 1,125,300,000 121,700,000 1,247,000,000 | 2,500,700,000 382,900,000 2,883,600,000 |

Source: EuropeAid Cooperation Office

Notes

* The ACP-EC Council of Ministers decided on 25 June 2005 to set up the Energy Facility. The Facility will commit €220 million by the end of 2007. The call for proposals has been launched.

** The ACP-EC Water Facility has resources of €500 million. During 2004-2005, €125 million was committed and the remaining €375 million will be committed by the end of 2007.

For Sub Saharan Africa: commitments are exclusively EDF programmable resources (and the Water Facility).

For North Africa: commitments are exclusively EU budget resources.

Abbreviations

ACP | Africa, Caribbean, Pacific |

AfDB | African Development Bank |

AFREC | African Energy Commission |

AIDS | Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome |

AMCOW | African Ministerial Council on Water |

AU | African Union |

AUC | African Union Commission |

CAPP | Central Africa Power Pool |

CAR | Central African Republic |

COMELEC | Comité Maghrebin de l’Electricité |

COMESA | Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa |

COOPENER | Cooperation Energy Programme |

COSCAP | Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Project |

DAC | Development Assistance Committee (of the OECD) |

DFI | Development Financing Institutions |

DRC | Democratic Republic of Congo |

EAPP | Eastern Africa Power Pool |

EASSy | Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System |

EC | European Community |

EDF | European Development Fund |

EIB | European Investment Bank |

EPA | Economic Partnership Agreement |

ESA | European Space Agency |

EU | European Union |

EUEI | EU Energy Initiative |

EUWI | EU Water Initiative |

FPA | Fishery Partnership Agreements |

GDP | Gross Domestic Product |

GNI | Gross National Income |

HIV | Human Immunodeficiency Virus |

HYCOS | Hydrological Cycle Observing System |

ICAO | International Civil Aviation Organisation |

ICT | Information and Communications Technology |

IDABC | Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens |

i-STAP | Infrastructure Short Term Action Plan (of NEPAD) |

ITU | International Telecommunications Union |

IWRM | Integrated Water Resources Management |

JREC | Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition |

LDC | Least Developed Countries |

MDGs | Millennium Development Goals |

NBI | Nile Basin Initiative |

NEPAD | New Partnership for Africa’s Development |

NIP | National Indicative Programme |

ODA | Official Development Assistance |

OECD | Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development |

REC | Regional Economic Community |

REEP | Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership |

RIP | Regional Indicative Programme |

SADC | Southern African Development Community |

SAPP | Southern Africa Power Pool |

SESAR | Single European Sky ATM Research |

SSATP | Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Programme |

STAP | Short Term Action Plan (of NEPAD) |

TEN | Trans-European Networks |

TTF | Technology Transfer Facility |

WAPP | West Africa Power Pool |

WHO | World Health Organisation |

WSSD | World Summit on Sustainable Development |

[1] Evropski svet: EU in Afrika: na poti k strateškemu partnerstvu – 15961/05 (Objava 367) z dne 19. 12. 2005.

[2] Mreža Odbora za razvojno pomoč (DAC) za zmanjševanje revščine: Vodilna načela o uporabi infrastrukture za zmanjševanje revščine, december 2005.

[3] Ali je lahko 21. stoletje afriško, Svetovna banka, april 2000.

[4] Ocena regionalne integracije v Afriki, Ekonomska komisija za Afriko, 2004.

[5] COM(2006) 181 Na poti h globalnem partnerstvu v informacijski družbi: Spremljanje izvajanja tuniške faze Svetovnega vrha o informacijski družbi

[6] Atlas donatorjev 2006, Evropska komisija-OECD

[7] Pariška deklaracija o učinkovitosti pomoči, februar 2005.

[8] Sklepi Sveta o financiranju za razvoj in učinkovitost pomoči: ponuditi več, bolje in hitreje – GAERC – 11. april 2006, Luxembourg.

[9] SSATP includes 32 SSA countries and the RECs. Its Long Term Development Plan (2004-07) is supported by EC (major donor), France, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, UNECA and World Bank.

[10] COM(2000) 422: Promoting sustainable transport in development cooperation

[11] COM(2006) 105.