Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade on Tuesday expressed regrets over the delays in implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). According to President Wade, NEPAD suffers the consequences of bad orientations earlier attached to the project.

Maître Abdoulaye Wade was speaking during Tuesday's NEPAD implementation committee meeting held in the Senegalese capital city, attended by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who played host to the meeting. Ethiopia was represented by Premier Meles Zenawi, who is also the Chair of the NEPAD implementation Committee, while Egypt was represented by Osman Mohamed Osman, Economy and Development Minister and Nigeria by Foreign Minister Maduekwe Ojo.

"It is important to note that considering the erratic approaches as well as the wrong priorities mapped around seminars or meetings in Africa and abroad without real outlooks, I am in the obligation to draw the attention of everybody on the dangers that NEPAD is facing as it derives from the 2004 South Africa work plan", President Wade said.

"We were unfortunately very disorganised, doing everything with unnecessary risks by duplicating programmes, actions and efforts from African States and the African Union", Wade added. He recalled his colleagues that "NEPAD must build roads, railways, bridges, ports and airports in order to open up land-locked countries and regions" Wade added.

NEPAD's Dakar meeting urged member countries to speed up concrete realisations in the continent and pursue discussions with a view to ensure the mainstreaming of NEPAD into the African Union development programmes.

Senegal's Foreign Minister, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said "NEPAD's priority sectors are the implementation of short term regional infrastructure programmes, including transports, energy, ICTs, water and sanitation. Other priorities include facilitating the implementation of agricultural development and food security programmes in all sub-regions, the adoption of a consulted African position on access to markets, the reduction of debt and the reform of public aid for development in Africa.

The meeting further tried to understand "why the pledges for funding NEPAD did not materialised and why Africa failed to access operational funds" Gadio added.

The conclusions of Dakar's one-day meeting will be discussed during the Charm El Sheikh next AU summit in Egypt scheduled for July, 2008.

NEPAD was set up in July 2001 following the adoption at the 37th OAU summit of a document with the objectives of eradicating poverty and setting African countries individually and collectively on the way to growth and sustainable development.