Executive Council of the African Union - Statement by Abdoulie Janneh

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA

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 Konaré, Chairperson of the African Union Commission;

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers of the Executive Council;

Distinguished Commissioners of the African Union;

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

It is a great honour and privilege for me to address once again this august gathering on behalf of the United Nations. Let me at this onset welcome you all to Addis Ababa where the Government and people of this country continue to be a great host to us and to provide the enabling environment for important meetings of this nature.

I would also like to commend my brother, friend and partner, His Excellency Prof. Alpha Oumar Konaré, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, his Commissioners and the entire Commission for their hard work in preparing for this meeting and the upcoming Summit. Let me 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. Mr. Chairman;

Your Excellency, Prof. Alpha Oumar Konaré, Chairperson of the African Union Commission;

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers of the Executive Council; Distinguished Commissioners of the African Union;

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

It is a great honour and privilege for me to address once again this august gathering on behalf of the United Nations. Let me at this onset welcome you all to Addis Ababa where the Government and people of this country continue to be a great host to us and to provide the enabling environment for important meetings of this nature.

I would also like to commend my brother, friend and partner, His Excellency Prof. Alpha Oumar Konaré, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, his Commissioners and the entire Commission for their hard work in preparing for this meeting and the upcoming Summit.

Let me 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; particularly the promotion of intra-Africa 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 here in Addis Ababa 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 its constant and credible engagement in this area and for the recent successes that have been achieved with regard to overcoming some of the intractable conflicts that bedeviled the continent. In this context, allow me take this opportunity to once more felicitate with the Democratic Republic of Congo for its recent successful transition to a democratically elected government. We pray for similar success in the challenges you face in Darfur, Cote d'Ivoire and Somalia. You can count on the continued support and partnership of the United Nations.

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 your 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 7" 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 18`h 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 up scaling 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.