[AU-Monitor] Fwd: ECA Executive Secretary Statement to the Executive Council of the African Union

[Firoze Manji]

FYI

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Abraham Tameru <ATameru at uneca.org>
> Date: 27 January 2007 07:12:16 am GMT
> To: Abraham Tameru <ATameru at uneca.org>
> Subject: ECA Executive Secretary Statement to the Executive Council  
> of the African Union
>
>
> Tenth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union
>
>
>
> Statement
>
>
> by
>
> Abdoulie Janneh
> UN Under-Secretary-General and
> Executive Secretary of ECA
>
>
> Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
> 25 January 2007
>
>
>
> Mr. Chairman;
>
> Your Excellency, Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of the  
> African Union
> Commission;
> Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers of the Executive Council;
> Distinguished Commissioners of the African Union;
> Excellencies;
> Ladies and Gentlemen;
>
> Let me start by thanking His Excellency Mr. Meles Zenawi, the Prime  
> Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the  
> Government and people of Ethiopia for hosting this important Summit  
> of the Africa Union.
>
> I would also like to commend my brother and friend, His Excellency  
> Prof. Alpha Oumar Konare, the Chairperson of the African Union  
> Commission, his Commissioners and the entire Commission for their  
> hard work in preparing this Summit.
>
> I want to use the time allocated to me today to cover three areas:  
> brief you on the economic situation in Africa, discuss the critical  
> importance of the theme of this Summit, and inform you of the steps  
> that have been taken to deepen collaboration between the United  
> Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) since I had the honour of  
> addressing this esteemed Council in Banjul. In that context, I will  
> highlight how the partnership framework, which we have agreed, is  
> providing impetus to substantially advance our mutual agenda in  
> several areas, including those encapsulated by the theme of this  
> Summit. Additionally, I will brief you on how we, the UN family in  
> Africa, are now working to improve coherence of all our activities  
> in support of the AU and its NEPAD programme.
>
>
> Mr. Chairman;
>
> I am glad to report that African economies continue to sustain the  
> growth momentum, which has built up in recent years. In 2006,  
> overall real GDP growth rate accelerated from 5.2 percent recorded  
> in 2005 to 5.7 percent. This momentum continues to be underpinned  
> by two main factors. One, the improvement in macroeconomic  
> management in many countries; and two, the strong global demand for  
> key African export commodities, that resulted in high export  
> prices, especially for crude oil, metals and minerals. We are  
> expecting growth in 2007 to continue on this same path to reach  
> around 5.8 percent.
>
> However, I should stress that despite this trend in economic  
> growth, evidence shows that Africa is unlikely to meet the  
> Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 unless new and vigorous  
> approaches are adopted. This is why the ECA Conference of Ministers  
> of Finance, Planning and Economic Development scheduled from 29  
> March to 3 April this year is devoted to the theme of:  
> “Accelerating Africa’s Growth and Development to meet the  
> Millennium Development Goals: Emerging Challenges and the Way  
> Forward”.
>
> Of course, the challenges that Africa faces are many and often vary  
> from country to country. However, in the context of globalization,  
> I have no doubt that we all must tackle the issues of peace and  
> security; trade; the rational and fair utilization of Africa’s  
> natural resources; the provision of an adequate infrastructure to  
> enable growth; and the empowerment of women and the youth so that  
> we can fully utilize the wealth of the talent that abounds in the  
> continent. This is why the UN family is fully committed to strong  
> collaboration with the AU, in these areas among others, to ensure  
> that we move the African development agenda forward.
>
> More specifically, on trade, I recently had the opportunity to  
> discuss the stalled Doha Round of trade talks with Mr. Pascal Lamy,  
> Director-General of the WTO.  We agreed on the need for the speedy  
> resumption of the talks as Africa stands to gain the most from the  
> achievement of a fair and equitable global trading system.  With  
> regard to natural resources, a Big Table is to be organized jointly  
> with the African Development Bank (AfDB) immediately after the  
> meeting of the AU Assembly next week.  The theme of the Big Table  
> is “Managing Africa’s Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty  
> Reduction”.
>
> We are all in agreement that peace and security is a sine qua non  
> for Africa’s development challenges to be successfully dealt with.   
> In this regard, allow me to congratulate the African Union for the  
> recent successes that have been achieved with regard to overcoming  
> some of the intractable conflicts that bedeviled the continent.  I  
> also take this opportunity to felicitate with the Democratic  
> Republic of Congo for its recent successful transition to a  
> democratically elected government.
>
> Excellencies;
>
> We know that the task before us is multifaceted and that we must  
> use a variety of tools to address it comprehensively.  Without a  
> doubt, science and technology, the theme chosen for this Summit is  
> a vital element in the tool-kit for accelerating Africa’s  
> development. The world has witnessed how advances in this  
> innovative field have been perhaps the most forceful and enduring  
> driver of economic growth and development. Indeed, evidence abounds  
> that there is a strong correlation between a country’s scientific  
> and technological status and its economic performance and wealth.  
> This is as true for Africa as it is and has been for all other  
> parts of the world.
>
> It is therefore clear that for Africa to accelerate its development  
> and achieve the MDGs, African countries have to scale-up their  
> investments in science and technology. And, for this very reason,  
> NEPAD has made science and technology a priority sector for the  
> advancement of the continental agenda.
>
> Honourable Ministers;
>
> In order to build Africa’s scientific and technological development  
> framework we have to overcome a number of challenges. First, in  
> many African countries the link between the scientific community  
> and the political institutions are very weak and science and  
> technology policies continue to be outdated. Second, despite the  
> long time that has elapsed since the adoption of the Lagos Plan of  
> Action, which called for African countries to allocate at least 1  
> per cent of its GDP to research and development, many of our  
> countries devote considerably lower funding to R&D. This impinges  
> on many areas of development particularly, the continent’s ability  
> to achieve and sustain food security. Third, the quality of our  
> science and engineering education is on the decline, in part due to  
> the absence of physical infrastructure and equipments. These  
> factors have limited Africa’s capacities to develop, adapt and  
> exploit science, technology and innovations solutions that will  
> accelerate its economic and social progress.
>
> In spite of the tremendous challenges, there is still hope if  
> Africa could take advantage of its great potential. This would  
> require us to:
>
> ·        undertake a major Science and Technology Capacity Building  
> Initiative to generate, revamp and deploy large numbers of  
> scientists, engineers and technicians;
>
>
> ·        establish strong  linkages between technology-based  
> industry, academia and government needs so that technologies  
> appropriate to national needs are developed; and
>
>
> ·        promote public-private-partnerships in modern science and  
> technology research.
>
> Mr. Chairman;
>
> Since my last address to this august gathering at the Banjul  
> Summit, substantial progress has been made with regard to AU-UN  
> cooperation.  Following wide-ranging consultations, the UN  
> Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the AU Commission signed a  
> Declaration on “Enhancing UN-AU Cooperation” in November 2006.  The  
> Declaration is the framework for the evolving UN Ten Year Capacity  
> Building Programme for the African Union and an expression of the  
> common commitment of both institutions to work together on issues  
> of peace and human security, human rights, post-conflict  
> reconstruction and regional integration.
>
> As the framework for UN system-wide support to the capacity  
> building efforts of the African Union Commission and the regional  
> economic communities, the Declaration also provides room for  
> cooperation in the area of science and technology.
>
> Last year the Secretary General wrote to the President of the  
> United Nations General Assembly informing her of the signing of the  
> Declaration on UN-AU Cooperation and at the same time soliciting  
> her support, and that of the entire General Assembly, for its  
> endorsement and indeed the legislative authority for its  
> implementation. It is our fervent hope that a General Assembly  
> Resolution will be adopted to this effect.
>
> Excellencies;
>
> You will recall that the Banjul Summit stressed the importance of  
> effective management and coordination of UN activities in Africa as  
> an integral part of UN system-wide support to the continent.
>
> In this regard, I am pleased to report that since then, and in  
> response to the demands of the new UN-AU cooperation framework, the  
> UN has taken steps to revamp its regional consultation mechanism of  
> UN agencies working in Africa.  The regional consultation  
> mechanism, which is coordinated by ECA, has now been expanded to  
> include the African Union Commission as well as UN Headquarters  
> Departments dealing with political affairs and peacekeeping  
> operations.
>
> The 7th meeting of the RCM took place in Addis Ababa in November  
> 2006.  It was at this meeting that it was decided to expand the  
> focus of the regional consultation mechanism to include UN support  
> to AU in addition to its NEPAD programme.  Another significant  
> feature of that meeting was the creation of two new clusters  
> namely; Peace and Security, and Industry, Trade and Market Access.   
> As coordinator of the regional consultation mechanism and  
> secretariat for the various clusters, ECA will actively monitor and  
> report to you on its activities.
>
> The new Cluster for Peace and Security is co-chaired by UN  
> Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the AU Commission. The  
> very first meeting of this Cluster was attended by an impressive  
> number of Agencies on the 18th January 2007. We are pleased by the  
> steps that are being put place to bring coherence in this area, as  
> peace and security issues are to receive a very special focus, at  
> least for the next three years, as we implement of the UN Ten Year  
> Capacity Building Programme for the AU.
>
> Pursuant to the Decision of the Banjul Summit, the three  
> continental institutions, the African Union, African Development  
> Bank and Economic Commission for Africa continue to work closely  
> together to build synergies in our activities.  In this regard, we  
> are upscaling our cooperation and collaboration to coordinate  
> African development strategies and programmes in a consistent  
> manner.  At the same time, we continue to place due emphasis on  
> defining, articulating and strengthening Africa’s positions on  
> relevant development issues.
>
> Honourable Ministers,
>
> In Banjul, you endorsed the repositioning of ECA to better support  
> regional integration in Africa and help the continent achieve the  
> Millennium Development Goals. Since we got your blessing, we have  
> continued to move on with continued determination.  An ECA Business  
> Plan for the period 2007 to 2009 was developed as a comprehensive  
> programme of action to scale-up ECA’s support to implementation of  
> the development priorities of the AU and its NEPAD programme.  
> Further, the United Nations General Assembly has approved an Action  
> Plan to strengthen for our sub-regional offices so that we can be  
> closer and better serve the different regional economic communities  
> in the continent.
>
> We are counting on your support for the up-scaling of the UN family  
> efforts to help advance the bold agenda of the African Union. We  
> therefore look forward to this Summit’s endorsement of the  
> comprehensive partnership framework, which has been agreed between  
> the African Union Commission and the UN.
>
> Mr. Chairman;
> Honourable Ministers;
>
> Those of us working in the United Nations system in Africa are  
> happy that the new Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon has sent a  
> clear signal of his commitment to addressing Africa’s concerns by  
> making the AU Summit his first port of call after resuming duty.   
> Members of this distinguished Council will no doubt also be pleased  
> that the Secretary-General has appointed one of your peers, Dr.  
> Asha-Rose Migiro, as his Deputy Secretary-General.  These are  
> positive signs of the Secretary-General’s desire to engage with  
> Africa in meeting its current challenges.  I am confident that he  
> will continue to receive your usual support and cooperation.
>
> I wish you fruitful deliberations.  Thank you for your kind attention.