CONFINTEA VI, final report - Unesco

Excellencies, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Our homeland, Africa, has rich human potential. In
2050 it will have nearly 1.9 billion inhabitants; that
is to say, it will be almost as populous as China or
India, but with the advantage of having a younger
population: more than one billion Africans will be aged
under 15, and at least one in five men will be African.
The population of Africa will be the equivalent of
the population of Europe, North America (Canada and
the United States combined), South America, Central
America, the Caribbean, and Oceania combined.
Another strength of ours is the African diaspora across
all continents with its human potential, its workers, its
values, its intellectual and material resources and its
experience. Within four decades, we will be the largest
construction site in the world, because everything
remains to be done. We will be the youngest and
largest market in the world. We are still a society
where social solidarity means something.
All this will not suffice, however, if Africa is not
united, if Africa is not democratic and if Africa does
not make the necessary breaks with the past and
chooses endogenous development. We must re-examine
all concepts and reject the prevailing depoliticisation
in encouraging the promotion of African cultures,
particularly African languages. The key to the future of
Africa lies in the United States of Africa.
This is why we have chosen to launch the Movement
for the United States of Africa to rally African
citizens and set this plan in motion. We have chosen
to encourage the promotion of African cultures,
particularly African languages, and to launch the
campaign for the promotion of Swahili as a pan-African
language and a common language.
Excellencies, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Today, the duty of mankind implies first of all a duty to
Africa. To want to truly live is to live with Africa, for
there is no viable future without Africa.
Excellencies, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Every good wish accompanies your efforts, Madam
Director-General, to ensure that UNESCO will always be
a home for intellectuals, a place forever bubbling with
ideas where people will never stop asking questions,
a place of breakings-off and disputes, and a place
of exchange, of the sowing of seeds and rebuilding,
though in a spirit of tolerance where man follows,
above all, his destiny of fraternity.
It is no coincidence, excellencies, colleagues, ladies
and gentlemen, that it is here in Brazil that so
many different people will seek, in the course of the
next few days, through exchange and the sharing
of experiences, to advance the debate on “living
and learning for a viable future” and renew their
commitment to lifelong learning.
Brazil, this land that is so warm today, so exemplary,
that dares to look at itself in the mirror and is
strengthened by its diversity and its contrasts,
welcomes us. Brazil has taken back the initiative and
is making history under the leadership of a great
Brazilian, a man who is in the process of becoming our
common heritage, Lula.
Here’s to our full success! So, let us get to work!
Perhaps one day soon, CONFINTEA will be held in
Africa? In 1947 Africa came to Denmark for the first
CONFINTEA with Egypt. Over 40 African ministers are
attending today’s meeting. Over 90% of the answers
to the questions asked at the Conference came from
Africa; Africa is the continent most challenged by
illiteracy and problems relating to adult education.
It is also the only continent that has not yet hosted
CONFINTEA.
Long live CONFINTEA for education, especially adult
education in aid of education for all, lifelong learning
and for a better investment in the future, a future we
hope will be founded on democracy, peace, justice and
solidarity.
Thank you.
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