ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, April 6, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
The African Ministers of Finance, Planning, Economic Development and Integration concluded their 9th annual meeting on 5th April 2016 with a strong call for the domestication of Agenda 2063 and 2030 for Sustainable Development which they said, offers a unique opportunity for Africa to achieve inclusive and transformative development with equity. The Ministers further recognized the role of Regional integration through the RECs in the implementation of both developments agendas.
In her closing remarks, H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) emphasized that, the success of both Agenda 2063 and 2030 can only be guaranteed if the implementation processes includes women and the youth.
The AUC Chairperson called for a change of mindset. “We need to believe in ourselves, in our capacities and the capacities of our people.” She further addressed the issue of the continent’s resources which should be an advantage for rapid development, stressing on the need to make impactful change in not only policy reform but also administrative improvements and diligent implementation of existing policies.
The AUC Chairperson encouraged stakeholders to invest in the training of competent statisticians with the right skills to produce sound accurate, good quality and timely statistics for the continent. Most importantly, she highlighted that African programs must be inform by African solidarity, and the spirit of Pan Africanism, “so that we can celebrate our successes, and help to address our weaknesses”. She called for synergies from international partners, to unite efforts for the common goal. Dr. Dlamini Zuma commended both the UNECA and the AU Commission for the quality work to ensure that the meeting was successful. (See complete speech of the AUC Chairperson on the AU website: www.au.int ).
Addressing the ministers at the closing ceremony, H.E. Dr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, said the Conference was a fulfillment in relation to the expectations of both the UNECA and the AU Commission.
The Minister of Planning of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chair of the Ministerial meeting, Mr. Georges Wembi Lwambo saluted reiterated the need to harmonize the two development programs; Agenda 2063 and 2030. Minister Wembi stated that the greatest challenge will be at the level of financing the implementation of both agendas as well as the lack of human resource capacity which needs to be overcome by joining efforts to support the development agenda. He underscored the importance of reinforcing capacity in order to ease the achievement of all the recommendations adopted during the week long meeting at the UNECA Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, the Ministers exchanged views and shared best practices on the theme: “Towards an integrated and coherent approach to the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. They recognized that Africa has made considerable progress towards social outcomes, with poverty levels dropping in the various sub regions.
