Chairperson, I thank all hon members who are taking part by speaking or listening to this debate. Africa is the cradle of humanity and Africa is a continent of hope and endless possibilities. But the future of Africa depends on what we, the Africans do with these possibilities.
Now, Africans was defined by one of the speakers as whoever claims his birthright as an African is an African. So, in this debate what seems to be clear is that there is consensus that Africa needs to unite and even some young and old people amongst us cherish the hope that it happens in their life time. It is clear that there is a strong view that if we do not unite, Africa, as we know it will perish.
But there are also reports that by 2050 Africa will probably have the largest young population whereas Europe will have an aging population. Africa has the second largest land surface as a continent, has large amounts of natural resources but individually we do not seem to the able to harness all these possibilities.
So it seems again that we are all saying yes to integration, but some are saying we should strengthen and rationalise the economic communities as building blocks and that we should also strengthen the AU and its institutions.
In concluding this debate, it seems that we are also saying that there are issues that can be dealt with at a continental level, as Nepad has isolated those already. Therefore, we need to have a kind of twin track: firstly, strengthening the building blocks at the regional level whilst at the same time doing what we need to do at the continental level, especially around the Nepad priorities. We need to mobilise resources because without the resources we can't even begin to integrate the continent.
I am glad to say that at the insistence of our own President, South Africa is leading in the establishment of the Africa Development Fund, which is looking at using some of the pension funds and some of the private sector funds to put together a fund that will build the infrastructure to start with on the continent, because without infrastructure we cannot even begin to integrate. So, infrastructure development is very crucial for any integration.
We hope that this House will support this fund as a way of accelerating the integration. But I also heard that you as parliamentarians, including me are saying, that this debate must not end here - it must go out to the public so that South African's should pronounce on it. But who is best placed other than yourselves as public representatives to go back to the people you represent and ask them what their views are, because I take it today that these were your views? Now, we need to go out and ask our constituencies what their views are on this matter. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.