Janneh meets President Bingu wa Mutharika on ECA-Malawi collaboration

29 January 2007

The ECA Executive Secretary, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh met President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, Sunday, 28 January 2007 on the margins of the meeting of the African Peer Review Mechanism. In their discussions, President Mutharika, a former ECA staff member, welcomed the ECA repositioning exercise and said this would enable the organization to better support on-going reforms in Malawi.

“Our reforms are homegrown and focus on agriculture and food security; irrigation and water development; transport and communications infrastructure; energy; integrated rural development; and a public works programme,” he said, adding that Malawi sees a critical role for ECA in support of the African development agenda.

The two dignitaries also discussed the progress being made by Malawi towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in the management of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

“I’m glad that regional integration is one of the two pillars of ECA’s work”, he said and affirmed that as the founder of the existing Regional Economic Commissions (RECs), the Commission had a critical role to play in deepening and accelerating the pace of the integration process in the continent.

Mr. Janneh also met with the Ugandan Minister of Industry, Professor Ephraim Kamuntu on Friday, 26 January. The Minister expressed his appreciation for ECA’s past support to Uganda and asked for closer collaboration between Uganda and ECA for the translation of new industrial and science and technology policies into concrete actions. “Uganda needs further support from ECA in developing strategic plans to operationalize its new policies as well as to mobilize financial support.” He said.