This report is the latest update by the United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (ECA) on the progress that Africa is making towards the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). It builds on the first report prepared
in 2005 in the preparation for the UN World Summit and mid-term review
of progress towards the MDGs and is derived from ongoing work on a much
fuller report being prepared jointly with the African Union Commission
(AUC) for the African Union (AU) Summit in July 2007. The report also
complements the issues paper prepared for this Conference.
In 2005, the international community, at the UN World Summit re-affirmed
its commitment to the (MDGs). The mid-point on the time-line to
these goals will be reached in September 2007. This is a clear reminder to
African countries that slightly over 7 years remain to achieve all the MDGs.
Recent aggregate and disaggregated on progress made towards MDGs globally,
regionally and at the country level continue to indicate that Africa is at
risk of not meeting all the goals except in the North Africa region. However,
there have also been positive developments in recent years which indicate
that the challenge is not insurmountable, if both national and international
policy measures are scaled up in a number of critical areas.
In the first instance, there continues to be encouraging developments with respect
to a key ingredient for attaining MDGs in Africa: broad and sustained
commitment to the MDG agenda, particularly at the highest levels of decision-
making. Over the past three years African countries and the political
leadership have demonstrated their commitment to the MDGs which continue
to be at the centre of the NEPAD vision and domestic programmes.
The AU concretely expressed its commitment to facilitating acceleration of
progress towards the Goals by Africa countries through a Common Position
that it discussed at its 2005 Summit and at the 2005 World Development
Summit. The AU’s commitment to the MDGs was reaffirmed at the AU
Summit in Banjul, the Gambia, which also called on member States to adopt
concrete measures to scale-up interventions known to work. Finally, Africa’s
Ministers of Finance, Economic Planning and Development as well as the
key Sector Ministries have consistently placed MDGs at the center of their
Conferences and Meetings, particularly since 2005.
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