. the increasingly important role of smes in this process should not be underestimated. the awards that will be presented at this conference are evidence of that. smes can play a vital role in job creation and in strengthening competition in domestic market. the challenge is however to ensure that individual success at the level of the firm, contributes towards the competitiveness of the national economy. i congratulate all the award - winners. thank you.

financing for development held in monterrey, mexico in march 2002, and the world summit on sustainable development, held in johannesburg in september 2002, collectively defined a new global partnership for development between developed and developing countries. many analysts and policymakers, particularly those in developing countries, had hoped that the commitment of the developed countries would be operationalised at the wto talks in cancun, mexico. however, as you are aware, this did not materialise. it is therefore not surprising that great disappointment followed the failure of the recent world trade organisation talks at cancun to reach agreement on the lowering of agricultural subsidies in developed countries. while, there is little doubt that increased trade between africa and the developed world will increase africa's chances of achieving it's economic and social objectives, it is imperative that attention is also given to the promotion of intra - africa trade. despite four decades of integration efforts, intra - african trade as a percentage of total trade remains low. for example, the united nations economic commission for africa ( uneca ) estimates that intra - african trade has increased only marginally from 8 percent in 1989 to 12 percent in 2002. it is therefore not surprising that current account deficits in many countries remain relatively high. the low level of african exports can be partly explained in terms of issues related to market access, inadequate infrastructure and other structural impediments to economic diversification in the various economies. in addition, low productivity and high costs of doing business have been often cited as the main factors undermining africa's competitiveness. 4. initiatives promoting african economic development many initiatives have been undertaken to promote economic development in africa. article 44 of the abuja treaty calls for the harmonisation of economic policies across the african continent. the treaty emphasises two important pillars of economic integration across the african continent : the promotion of intra - africa trade and the enhancement of monetary co - operation. the african monetary co - operation programme ( amcp ) seeks to operationalise the monetary co - operation mandate of the abuja treaty. in the main, this involves a single monetary area, encompassing a common currency and a common central bank by the year 2021. the sadc countries have already undertaken many initiatives which are aligned with the objectives of the amcp. for example, the harmonising of payment, clearing and settlement systems has already begun. some sadc central banks are successfully implementing real time gross settlement systems ( rtgs ). and the strengthening of banking supervision has already begun in the