Welcome to the United Nations
As globalization is impacting our life in different ways across the world, the State may be losing some of its traditional functions to supranational and sub-national institutions. At the same time, advances in communication, technology and science are changing our way of life in a manner that is totally unpredictable. If we want Africa to be part of the process and to benefit from it, among other actions, Africans and their Govern-ments have to influence their own future by taking decisive steps to enter into the new millennium as full-fledged participants. An enabling environment for business and investment can only happen if there are public institutions in place that facilitate oppor-tunities for the private sector and civil society. In this regard, the initiative taken by the African Ministers of Civil Service at their Second Pan-African Conference, held in Rabat in December 1998, has to be highlighted as a step in the right direction.