Reverse the brain drain, says President

The President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki has called on academic and research institutions as well as the private sector in Africa to put the policies and the infrastructure in place that will attract and retain top-notch scientists. “[M]uch more needs to be done to ensure Africa becomes a global hub for innovations,” he said.

Kibaki was opening a conference of African Ministers responsible for  Science Technology and Innovation (STI) in Nairobi, Kenya as part of the first African Forum on STI.
Before speaking the President and First Lady, Lucy Kibaki, toured Africa on the Move, an exhibition of about 40 innovations, the majority from Kenya, that forms part of the forum.

He said for Africa to compete in the global market it needed technologies that would set of the continent's industrial revolution.

“[R]apid industrialization holds the key to addressing some of our continent's most pressing challenges particularly poverty, inequality and unemployment,” he said.
At the ceremony there were also opening remarks by Naledi Pandor, Second Chairperson of the African Ministers' Conference on Science and Technology and the Minister of Science and Technology in South Africa, Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chair of the African Union Commission, Donald Kabureka, President of the African Development Bank, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Margaret Kamar, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology in Kenya.