Experts Call on African
Governments to Work with Development Partners to Combat Capital
Flight and Recover Embezzled Assets Outside Africa
Cairo 6 June 2009 – African Experts meeting in Cairo, Egypt within the framework of the Second Joint Annual Meetings of the AU Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development have ended today, Saturday 6 June 2009 a five-day discussion on the theme: "Enhancing the effectiveness of fiscal policy for domestic resource mobilization". The closing ceremony was co-chaired by the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA Mrs. Lalla Ben Barka, and Dr. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission. The Experts made recommendations aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of fiscal policy for domestic resource mobilization in Africa. In particular, they called on African governments to focus on long-term strategies for promoting growth and expanding the tax base. They said African governments should introduce innovative mechanisms to improve tax collection and management, including institutional reforms to strengthen the link between revenue mobilization and public expenditure, and enhance transparency and accountability. "African governments should explore ways of formalizing the informal sector, taking into consideration the principle of equity and fair taxation, including registration and taxation of property and physical assets", the Experts said, adding that Donors should direct more official development assistance to building capacity for domestic resource mobilization through increased investment in infrastructure and productivity enhancing services. Regarding economic and social developments, the Experts urged that "African countries should continue improving their macroeconomic environments and sustain recent reforms. Statutes of the African Investment Bank The Experts expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the implementation of the establishments of the African Investment Bank, which is one of the three financial institutions of the African Union. The headquarters of the Bank will be in Tripoli, the Great Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; The Committee of Experts raised a number of concerns however, revolving the terms and conditions for the distribution of the start-up capital; the privileges and immunities pertaining to the headquarters and subsidiaries of the Bank; the voting rights prorated according to capital subscription; the complementarity and partnerships with African Development Bank and other existing financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Under this agenda item, the Experts requested the member States and the regional economic communities (RECs) to continue supporting the mainstreaming of regional integration issues into national policies. In that regard, a baseline study should be conducted to better appreciate national positions vis-à-vis regional integration goals, and ascertain the costs and benefits associated with membership in regional integration arrangements. Experts called on ECA, AUC and other development partners to continue assisting the RECs in efficiently implementing multi-year programmes as well as in building their capacities; to provide assistance for regional infrastructure development activities; and support efforts of African countries in building their productive capacities. Climate change and development – Assessment of Copenhagen Conference The Experts called on Member States to articulate and support a common African position in their negotiations of future climate change agreements to reflect their need to implement and finance climate adaptation strategies. They advised that the ECA and the AUC should facilitate the strengthening of the capacity of member States to negotiate climate change agreements and to access existing environmental and climate change funds. Effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms should be established to ensure that environmental and climate change commitments made by the international community relative to member States are met. Review of progress towards achieving the MDGs in Africa The Committee recommended that efforts should be made to improve the generation and quality of statistics regarding MDGs; they said ongoing projects and programmes should be reflected in the reporting of progress on the MDGs and efforts should be enhanced to harness the potential of various partnerships with a view to accelerating progress towards the MDGs. With regard to the implementation of the first Plan of Action of the Africa-EU Joint Strategy the Experts stressed the need for both the African and EU sides to commit adequate technical, financial and human resources to the implementation of the Action Plan. Conference website: http://www.uneca.org/cfm/2009/
jointly issued by: Tel: +251 11 551 5826 The African Union Communication and Tel: +251 11 551 77 00 Ext. 236
|
