Speeches
Statement by Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA
06 March 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Your Excellency, Mr. Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,
Your Excellency, President Festus Mogae, former President of the Republic of
Botswana and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Coalition for Dialogue on
Africa,
Your Excellency, Dr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
Ms. Zainab Badawi, Vice-President, African Development Bank,
Distinguished Members of the Advisory Board,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Africa for the launch of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa. In particular, I wish to thank those who have travelled a great distance to be with us today as their presence is evidence of their commitment to the success of the CoDA initiative. This is yet another example of our continued collaboration to determine and encourage the path and pace of African development.
This distinguished gathering will recall that several forums were established in the 1990s to promote dialogue on African development partly as a result of Africa’s economic and governance crisis of the 1980s and 1990s and also because there were concerns that the end of the Cold War would divert attention from the continent’s pressing needs. Some of these forums included the Global Coalition for Africa, the African Development Forum, the Big Table, the African Partnership Forum to mention but a few. In addition, several Commissions were set up by Africa’s partners to accompany the development efforts of the continent.
The Global Coalition for Africa was perhaps the oldest and best known of these forums. It led the way in deliberating on issues of importance to Africa’s development and was willing to broach difficult and sensitive topics, often before they were taken up by other organizations. The Coalition was also unique the sense that its dialogue processes promoted diversity and inclusiveness. However, However, significant changes began to take place in Africa at the beginning of the new Millennium including the establishment of the African Union and the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. These institutional changes were matched by improved economic performance and governance conditions such as strong growth and the establishment of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
Against this background, Africa and its partners called for a review of the GCA process such that the dialogue would be African owned and led including by being based in the continent but that would continue to be enriched by the wider participation of Africa’s partners and friends. The Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank were accordingly entrusted with the task of establishing a successor forum to the GCA that would maintain a degree of continuity with its best elements while adopting a slightly different approach and format. We consulted extensively with relevant stakeholders in carrying out this assignment and also put our own processes like the Big Table and African Development Forum up for review.
The result of our work was the establishment of CoDA as a new institutionally independent forum for free discussion among various stakeholders from across all sectors on Africa’s emerging and pressing challenges. It will combine the best elements of the GCA, the Big Table and the African Development Forum. It is therefore a framework that will help to bring order to the dialogue process in Africa and we offer it as an umbrella for other existing forums on Africa. CoDA in my view would also be a good platform for building on the strong partnerships that have served Africa so well in the recent past.
As we improve dialogue process on Africa, our continent also needs to strengthen its ability to implement agreed outcomes. We accordingly see CoDA as being a strong advocate for action to translate policies and initiatives into concrete results that will underpin Africa’s socio-economic progress. In addition, if Africa wants its interests and concerns taken on board in global affairs, it needs to speak with one voice on such matters. CoDA therefore provides a wider and inclusive mechanism for building African consensus on matters of regional and international interest including the current global financial crisis and forthcoming climate change negotiations.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the successful take-off of this initiative. In particular, I wish to express sincere appreciation to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia who is a former Co-Chair of the GCA for accompanying our efforts in this process. This is just further evidence of his continued commitment and dedication to the cause of African development.
Our gratitude also goes to His Excellency, Mr. Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana for accepting to Chair the CoDA Advisory Board. We are confident that CoDA will grow into a viable and credible process under your wise leadership.
I similarly wish to pay tribute to all the other very distinguished personalities who have agreed to serve on the Advisory Board of CoDA. We would not have been able to get this far without your interest and support.
The Advisory Board will determine and steer CoDA activities and priorities and will hold its inaugural meeting later on today. The Board will determine its own terms of reference and operational modalities including the various forms of policy dialogue and translation of agreed outcomes into reality. To assist the Board in planning the way forward, we have brought several distinguished African intellectuals and policymakers to engage with it and share ideas on the way forward.
This distinguished gathering will agree with me that the leadership of CoDA could not have been in better hands and as they meet over the next two days, I wish them every success in their deliberations and call upon all our partners to support their noble efforts.
Thank you for your kind attention.
