Conference of African Ministers







	Statement by H.E. Dr. Maxwell M. Mkwezalamba Commissioner for Economic Affairs, African Union AT THE OPENING OF THEEXPERTS MEETING OF THE THIRD JOINT MEETINGS OF THE AFRICAN UNION CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE AND ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN MINISTERS OF FINANCE, PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 25 – 28 March 2010 LILONGWE, MALAWI Hon. Ken Kandodo, MP, Minister of Finance, Republic of Malawi; Hon. Yasser Sobbi, Economist at the Minister of Finance’s Office, Representative of the Chairperson of the outgoing Bureau, Arab Republic of Egypt; H.E. Abdoulie Janneh, United Nations Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); Hon. Abbie Shawa, MP, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Hon. Nihoriya, Deputy Minister of Finance, Republic of Malawi Madam Lalla Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa Distinguished Representatives of the Regional and International Organizations; Senior Officials of Ministries of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; Members of the Diplomatic Community; Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen; On behalf of the Commission of the African Union and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to welcome and sincerely thank you all for making it to attend this important Third Joint Meeting of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Planning Development. Your participation in this meeting is a clear manifestation of the importance that you attach to the holding of this Joint Conference. It is also testimony of the significance you attach to the theme of the Conference -“Promoting High-Level Sustainable Growth to Reduce Unemployment in Africa”. At the outset, please allow me to thank His Excellency Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi and Chairperson of the African Union; the Government; and the People of Malawi for the warm and fraternal welcome extended to all delegates since their arrival in this beautiful country, Malawi, the country everyone calls home, the country of smiling faces, the Warm Heart of Africa. Allow me also to commend Hon. Ken Kandodo, M.P, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Malawi; staff of the Ministry of Finance; and all those who worked tirelessly in ensuring the successful holding of this important meeting. I salute you Honourable Minister and thank you for gracing the official opening of this meeting of Experts to prepare for the Ministerial meeting which will take place on 29 and 30 March, 2010. Of course, I need not forget to mention the excellent collaboration between the African Union Commission and the Economic Commission for Africa that continues to grow from strength to strength, which has made it possible for our two pan-African premier institutions to face, as one front, the socio-economic challenges of our continent. This we owe to the leadership of our two institutions. In this regard, I wish to sincerely thank H.E. Abdoulie Janneh, the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, for his continued commitment to working in collaboration with the African Union Commission. And to the hard working and diligent men and women of the African Union Commission and Economic Commission for Africa, I say “thank you, merci beaucoup, shukra, muita obrigado” for working with all your dedication to ensuring that we deliver on our partnership. Excellencies Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen The convening of this conference and its theme: “Promoting High Level Sustainable Growth to Reduce Unemployment in Africa” comes at a time when Africa’s growth outlook faces several downward risks, including the uncertainty about the speed and the size of the global recovery. Since the end of 2009, there has been a recovery of the global economy. It is estimated that the global economic recovery should lead to a rebound in economic growth in Africa in 2010 to around 4.3% and then 5.5% in 2011, against 1.7% recorded in 2009. This level is below the average growth rate recorded before the crisis, about 5.8%, and the rate of 7% needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The fall in economic growth has resulted in rising poverty and unemployment in the majority of our countries. The crucial question for Africa, therefore, is whether the African economy will reach high and sustainable levels of growth that would allow the continent to substantially reduce unemployment and poverty. As we might all be aware, the financial and economic crisis had illustrated the lack of diversification of production and exports which exposed our continent to severe adverse effects of shocks to global markets. To diversify risks and achieve broad-based growth, we need to supplement our export orientation with strategies to promote domestic markets through public investment, promotion of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), and regional integration. Policies to restore high and sustainable growth will, therefore, need to improve domestic fundamentals and encourage regional integration. In this regard, there is also the need to increase flexibility of macroeconomic frameworks, by which fiscal and monetary policies are well coordinated to have their intended effect, rather than offsetting each other. Another area of focus is the need to examine options for other sources of growth than exports and foreign direct investment (FDI). In particular, we need to reduce our reliance on foreign markets by developing domestic and regional markets. So far, regional integration has played only a marginal role in most of our development, as evidenced by the low level of intra-Africa trade. Since regional integration is key to our development agenda, emphasis needs to be placed on enhancing the implementation of regional and continental integration efforts. This meeting would be discussing, among other things, a report on the status of integration in Africa, and I do hope that you will make concrete and actionable recommendations as to the way forward. The African Union Commission, on its part, has developed the Minimum Integration Programme (MIP) in collaboration with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States, intended to accelerate the pace of regional and continental integration. The MIP is a mechanism for convergence between the RECs and focuses on a few priority areas of concern at regional and continental level, where RECs could strengthen their cooperation and benefit from the comparative advantages and best practices on integration. In the coming months, the African Union Commission will undertake sectoral consultations on the MIP, with the objective of identifying the key activities, projects and programmes to be implemented within some specific time frames, guided by the African Union Commission’s Strategic Plan. I invite you to actively participate in these consultations, which we deem crucial. Excellencies Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen You would further recall that at our last meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in June 2009, the Conference endorsed the Statutes of the African Investment Bank, which was adopted by the Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government in Sirte, Libya, in July 2009. And in December last year, the African Union Commission held an extra-ordinary Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance, which endorsed the proposed subscription formula, member contributions, voting rights and table of subscriptions, as annexes to the Statutes of the African Investment Bank. The Statutes, including these annexes were adopted by the African Union Assembly which was held in January/February 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Given the important role to be played by the Bank in financing Africa’s integration and development, member states are being called upon to sign and ratify the Protocol and the Statutes to facilitate early operationalization of the Bank. To date, fourteen (14) countries have signed the Protocol, including its Statutes, where as one has ratified. Excellencies Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen; Following the adoption of the African Union Charter on Statistics by the African Union Assembly in February 2009, eighteen (18) Member States have signed the legal document and only one has ratified. In this regard, I wish to use this opportunity to call upon the other member states that have not yet signed or ratified the Charter to do so in order to provide African statistics system with a regulatory framework for statistics development. Further the AU Commission in close collaboration with the UNECA and AfDB have developed a strategy for the harmonization of statistics in Africa. This draft strategy was endorsed at a meeting of the Committee of Directors-General of African National Statistics Offices held in East London, South Africa, in December last year. The Strategy would in the course of this meeting be placed before you all for your consideration and recommendations to be adopted by the Ministers. The strategy is designed to make available to users on all areas of integration quality and harmonized statistical information to provide for better formulation and effective monitoring of the African integration process. Excellencies Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen As the continent prepares for the 2010 UN High Level Summit to be held in New York, in the United States of America, we as Africans, need to adequately prepare for it. As Africa, we will need to go with one position , just like we did when our leaders attended the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December last year. In this regard, the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly prepared the MDG-Africa Report for 2010 and a Draft Common African Position on MDGs. This meeting, is invited to examine this two key document and make appropriate recommendations aimed at improving on their richness, content and quality. Excellencies Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen Finally, the success of this Conference will also depend on how it is able to successfully address the key priorities of the African Union in 2010, as articulated by the Chairperson of the African Union and President of the Republic of Malawi, His Excellency, Ngwazi Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, during the African Union Summit of January/February, 2010 this year, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As we may all recall these priorities were endorsed by the African Union Assembly and included agriculture and food security; infrastructure, including transport and energy; Information Communication and Technology and Peace and Security. This Conference should seek to come up with concrete recommendations that will ensure the realization of the vision of our leaders, for our leaders have spoken. With these remarks, I thank you for your kind attention and wish the meeting successful deliberations.