Introductory Remarks by the President of
AMCOW, Hon. Maria Mutagamba
Your Excellencies, Members of the AMCOW
Executive Committee, our Development Partners, Representative
of the African Union, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Let me begin by welcoming you all and to
renew my gratitude and appreciation to you all for having graciously
elected Uganda to the AMCOW Presidency at our 5th session, which
my government had the honour of hosting in November 2004.
Our height month journey from Entebbe in
November 2004, to Addis Ababa in June 2005 has been characterized
by a number of significant regional and global developments with
significant implications for AMCOW. In our region, the African
Union, in pursuance of its Constitutive Act, has been engaged
in consultations with African Ministerial bodies on the issue
of the integration of regional institutions into the African Union
governance structure.
At the global level, the international
community has since our 5th session in Entebbe, been preoccupied
with the implementation of the outcomes of the world Summit on
Sustainable Development, particularly in the context of the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation and the Millennium Development Goals. The
Commission on Sustainable Development, at its 13th session in
New York in April 2005, took stock of the progress made and recommended
a set of policy options aimed at expediting the achieving of the
MDG. The United Nations has also begun preparations and consultations
with respect to the High-Level Plenary, to be held in New York
in September 2005, of the General Assembly on the 5-year review
of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration.
The Blair Commission on Africa has also
issued its report which accords prominent attention to the role
of AMCOW in addressing the critical regional water policy challenges,
which we identified during the Pan-African Implementation and
Partnership Conference.
Your Excellencies, its is against this
background of major regional and global developments that we are
meeting here in Addis Ababa to assess, together, the implications
of these developments for AMCOW. In this regard, we must discuss,
in an interactive manner, the following key points:
· AMCOW Relationship with the African
Union since it should also be recalled that the Sirte Declaration
of the AU Heads of State/Governments included a clause “
Request the chair of the AU Commission to adopt the mandate, structures
and activities of AMCOW AMCEN and the African Ministerial Conference
of Agriculture, in order to integrate them into the activities
of the Commission of the AU and its Specialized Technical Committees”.
AMCOW TAC has, in close consultation with the African Union, prepared
a paper, which draws our attention to the key issues, which we
should take, into account.
· Enhancement of AMCOW’s cooperation
with NEPAD and strengthening of AMCOW’s institutional links
with Regional Economic Communities, River and Lake Basin Organizations,
and the African Development Bank. In fact, consultations with
Regional Economic Communities as well as River and Lake Basin
Organizations will be taking place, under the aegis of AMCOW,
in this venue on Thursday this week.
· How to mobilize partner and member
support for the AMCOW Trust Fund intended to finance work programme
for the period 2005-2007
· How to provide inputs on water-related
MDGs to our Heads of State and Government as they prepare for
the High-Level Plenary of the UN General Assembly on the five-year
review of implementation of the Millennium Declaration.
· AMCOW’s input or message
to the G-8 summit with respect to the G-8 Action Plan for Africa,
which recognizes, amongst others, the importance of establishing
Centers of Excellence in water sciences and technology in the
region, for improvement of water resources management in Africa
· How to reinforce our partnership
with UN-Water/Africa as well as development cooperation partners;
and
· Exchange views on the issue of
energy and water in Africa, considering that CSD 14 will be devoted
mainly to the subject of energy
· Private Sector Participation in
PPP in water sector in Africa.
In my progress report of Marcy 2005, I
highlighted progress made by all of us in implementation of the
Entebbe decisions, which included the following:
i) The 5th Session of AMCOW adopted a decision
to request UNEP to host and AMCOW Trust Fund and manage it on
behalf of the Council. The Trust Fund to finance the implementation
of AMCOW’s work programme over the period 2005-2007 has
now been formally established under UNEP with an initial contribution
of US$100,000 from UNEP. I have also formally notified our partners
about establishment of the Fund and requested them to make contributions.
With the support of UNEP, I also submitted an application to the
EU Water Facility for support to the Trust Fund. I have since
received formal notification that our application was received
before the deadline and that further communication will be made
after short-listing applicants to the next stage.
ii) Regarding the African Water Facility,
the African Development Bank has meanwhile undertaken the necessary
measures to initiate the operation of the facility. These include
recruitment of a Director for the Facility as well as associated
staff. The various stakeholders have also designated their representatives
to the Governing Council of the Facility. Due to reasons beyond
our control, the inaugural meeting of the Governing Council has
now been re-scheduled to 8th July 2005 in Tunis. Please note this
change from previous communications.
iii) It will be recalled that the 5th session of AMCOW (Entebbe,
Uganda, November 2004) asked the Government of Nigeria to submit
within six months a formal request for hosting the AMCOW Secretariat
in Abuja, Nigeria. I wish to inform you that the Government of
Nigeria has complied with AMCOW’s request and the proposal
has been circulated for your consideration.
iv) The 5th session in Entebbe also formally adopted AMCOW’S
Rules of Procedure. Members were requested to formally confirm
their endorsement.
We have also taken a number of steps to
improve communications among the members and also to maintain
effective collaboration with our partners through quarterly progress
reports to Ministers. The first progress report was distributed
in March 2005.
Efforts are also being made to update the
AMCOW Directory of Members and Partners, which is an important
tool for keeping in contact with the membership. There are still
gaps, which need to be filled in order to make the Directory more
comprehensive and up to date. I therefore appeal to all members
and our partners to provide all your contact details.
With the assistance of GTZ and UNEP, terms
of reference have been prepared for a consultancy on the information
technology required to improve the communication systems of AMCOW.
A web-site for AMCOW is being developed. The address is www.amcow.org.
I also wish to advise you that there is
need to establish a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for Africa
for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the water-related
MDGs. The AMCOW-TAC has therefore made proposals for our consideration.
The Government of France, in close collaboration
with the African Development Bank convened a Ministerial meeting
in Paris in April 2005 with the theme of “Achieving the
Millennium Development Goals in Africa”. Some AMCOW Ministers
participated in the meeting, which accorded particular attention
to mobilizing support for the rural water supply and sanitation
initiative. The major outcomes of the Paris meeting included a
Paris Declaration, which has been circulated.
In order to effectively discharge the responsibilities
inherent in the Presidency of AMCOW, I have, with support from
GTZ and WSP, established a temporary support office to liaise
with our development partners and the Secretariat in Abuja to
expedite processing of AMCOW-related matters.
Thank you very much.
