Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

Recalling the terms of reference of the Commission as adopted by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 671A (XXV) of 29 April 1958 and amended by its resolutions 974 D.1 (XXXVI) of 5 July 1963, 1343 (XLV) of 18 July 1968 and 1978/68 of 4 August 1978;

Bearing in mind General Assembly resolutions 45/177 of 19 December 1990, 45/264 of 13 May 1991 and 46/235 of 13 April 1992 on the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields, in which the call was made for the regional commissions to be enabled fully to play their role under the authority of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, and that for those located in developing countries to be strengthened in the context of the overall objectives of the ongoing restructuring and revitalization process;

Taking into account The Economic and Social Council Resolution 1998/46 Annex III through which the Council emphasised the role of the Regional Commissions as United Nations outposts in their respective regions and as part of their regional institutional landscape;

Noting with appreciation the concerted global partnership for Africa's development and the momentum generated by the 2005 World Summit in order to operationalize and implement, at all levels, the commitments in the outcomes of the major international and United Nations conferences and meetings, including the G-8 Summit and the World Summit;

Recognizing the significant progress that has been registered in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) process in African countries and taking into account the important groundbreaking Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness;

Emphasizing the need for concerted efforts and continued support to fulfill the commitments to address the special needs of Africa notwithstanding progress made in African countries towards achieving several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015;

Stressing the important contribution that the ECA subregional offices (SROs) are making towards supporting the efforts of the regional economic communities of Africa to implement Africa's priorities including regional integration and meeting special needs of their respective member States in each of the five subregions;

Recalling the General Assembly resolution of 18 December 2005 on the Report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) on the inspection of the programmes and administrative management of the subregional offices (SROs) of ECA, which requests the Secretary-General to present to the sixty-first session of the General Assembly a comprehensive plan of action to strengthen the SROs, based on the recommendations of the OIOS, with timelines and clear lines of managerial accountability in the context of the Action Plan to ensure that adequate resources are provided to ECA and its SROs to enable them to continue their support for NEPAD and the RECs, as well as to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of the OIOS; and

Having examined in depth document E/ECA/CM.39/7 entitled "Repositioning ECA to better respond to Africa's priorities";

Recalling the guiding principles of the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the World Millennium Summit in 2000;

Mindful that these guiding principles and objectives are shared by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) that was adopted in 2001 as the African leadership vision framework;

Deeply concerned by the prospects for African countries not meeting some or all of the MDGs by 2015,

Noting that most African countries are engaged in the preparation and implementation of poverty reduction strategies (PRS) in collaboration with the international financial institutions (The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), in the framework of the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, or similar national action plans;

Recalling the Abuja Ministerial Statement of 15 May 2005 which has reaffirmed the vital importance of the MDGs as a framework for achieving poverty reduction and advancing development in Africa;

Taking into account the outcome of the 2005 Millennium Summit and the Cairo African Plenary on PRS and implementation of the MDGs, especially in respect to the need for African countries to align their national PRS or similar national action plans with the MDGs so as to bring coherence into the various planned actions aimed at achieving those goals by 2015;

Noting with appreciation that African countries have already taken steps to align their second generation of PRS with the MDGs and have elaborated comprehensive implementation plans;

Noting that African national efforts could be supported by an active mobilization of domestic resources and appropriate aid architecture, especially to ensure the effective implementation of national priority programmes for the achievement of the MDGs;

Noting also with concern the persistent view expressed by Africa's development partners, including the international financial institutions, on the lack of absorptive capacities of African countries to accommodate an increased inflow of aid;

Cognisant of the fact that aid conditionalities often deter the utilisation of aid inflows and, consequently, the attainment of development goals;

Stressing the importance of reliable statistics and data to plan, monitor and evaluate progress in the achievement of the MDGs;

Having examined document E/ECA/CM.39/5 entitled "Progress and Challenges in Aligning Poverty Reduction Strategies with The Millennium Development Goals"







	Resolutions adopted by the conference I. Repositioning ECA to better respond to Africa's priorities The Conference of Ministers Recalling the terms of reference of the Commission as adopted by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 671A (XXV) of 29 April 1958 and amended by its resolutions 974 D.1 (XXXVI) of 5 July 1963, 1343 (XLV) of 18 July 1968 and 1978/68 of 4 August 1978; Bearing in mind General Assembly resolutions 45/177 of 19 December 1990, 45/264 of 13 May 1991 and 46/235 of 13 April 1992 on the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields, in which the call was made for the regional commissions to be enabled fully to play their role under the authority of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, and that for those located in developing countries to be strengthened in the context of the overall objectives of the ongoing restructuring and revitalization process; Taking into account The Economic and Social Council Resolution 1998/46 Annex III through which the Council emphasised the role of the Regional Commissions as United Nations outposts in their respective regions and as part of their regional institutional landscape; Noting with appreciation the concerted global partnership for Africa's development and the momentum generated by the 2005 World Summit in order to operationalize and implement, at all levels, the commitments in the outcomes of the major international and United Nations conferences and meetings, including the G-8 Summit and the World Summit; Recognizing the significant progress that has been registered in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) process in African countries and taking into account the important groundbreaking Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness; Emphasizing the need for concerted efforts and continued support to fulfill the commitments to address the special needs of Africa notwithstanding progress made in African countries towards achieving several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015; Stressing the important contribution that the ECA subregional offices (SROs) are making towards supporting the efforts of the regional economic communities of Africa to implement Africa's priorities including regional integration and meeting special needs of their respective member States in each of the five subregions; Recalling the General Assembly resolution of 18 December 2005 on the Report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) on the inspection of the programmes and administrative management of the subregional offices (SROs) of ECA, which requests the Secretary-General to present to the sixty-first session of the General Assembly a comprehensive plan of action to strengthen the SROs, based on the recommendations of the OIOS, with timelines and clear lines of managerial accountability in the context of the Action Plan to ensure that adequate resources are provided to ECA and its SROs to enable them to continue their support for NEPAD and the RECs, as well as to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of the OIOS; and Having examined in depth document E/ECA/CM.39/7 entitled "Repositioning ECA to better respond to Africa's priorities"; 1. Recognizes the fundamental role that ECA, including its SROs, continues to play in the promotion of subregional, regional and international cooperation for Africa's development, as evidenced by the provision of its normative services (analysis, consensus-building, advocacy) and operational activities that have been mutually complementary and supportive to the member States, the African Union (AU) and NEPAD, and the subregional economic communities (RECs), as well as, its team leadership and responsibility for coordination of the United Nations system for greater coherence at the regional and subregional levels; 2. Welcomes the Note by the Secretariat; 3. Commends the Executive Secretary for taking this timely and major initiative; 4. Endorses the strategic direction, the guiding principles and proposals for repositioning ECA to better respond to Africa's priorities as contained in the Note; 5. Requests the Executive Secretary to take the necessary measures to implement these proposals in order to reflect them in the Commission's Biennial Programme Plan for the period 2008-2009, and realign its intergovernmental, programme and organizational structures in order to enhance the secretariat's management and business processes for greater results; and 6. Invites the United Nations Secretary-General to support the efforts of the Commission's renewal and reform process by providing ECA, including its SROs, with adequate resources in order to scale up their operations both at the subregional and regional levels through enhanced support to member States and strengthen its partnership with the African Union and NEPAD, and the RECs for promoting regional integration and meeting Africa's special needs and challenges. II. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa The Conference of Ministers Recalling the guiding principles of the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the World Millennium Summit in 2000; Mindful that these guiding principles and objectives are shared by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) that was adopted in 2001 as the African leadership vision framework; Deeply concerned by the prospects for African countries not meeting some or all of the MDGs by 2015, Noting that most African countries are engaged in the preparation and implementation of poverty reduction strategies (PRS) in collaboration with the international financial institutions (The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), in the framework of the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, or similar national action plans; Recalling the Abuja Ministerial Statement of 15 May 2005 which has reaffirmed the vital importance of the MDGs as a framework for achieving poverty reduction and advancing development in Africa; Taking into account the outcome of the 2005 Millennium Summit and the Cairo African Plenary on PRS and implementation of the MDGs, especially in respect to the need for African countries to align their national PRS or similar national action plans with the MDGs so as to bring coherence into the various planned actions aimed at achieving those goals by 2015; Noting with appreciation that African countries have already taken steps to align their second generation of PRS with the MDGs and have elaborated comprehensive implementation plans; Noting that African national efforts could be supported by an active mobilization of domestic resources and appropriate aid architecture, especially to ensure the effective implementation of national priority programmes for the achievement of the MDGs; Noting also with concern the persistent view expressed by Africa's development partners, including the international financial institutions, on the lack of absorptive capacities of African countries to accommodate an increased inflow of aid; Cognisant of the fact that aid conditionalities often deter the utilisation of aid inflows and, consequently, the attainment of development goals; Stressing the importance of reliable statistics and data to plan, monitor and evaluate progress in the achievement of the MDGs; Having examined document E/ECA/CM.39/5 entitled "Progress and Challenges in Aligning Poverty Reduction Strategies with The Millennium Development Goals" 1. Encourages African countries to pursue their efforts in the alignment of their respective second generation PRS or similar national action plans with a strong commitment to achieve the MDGs; 2. Invites African Governments to establish a conducive environment that would promote broad-based stakeholder participation and, in particular, strengthen the role of the private sector in the mobilization of domestic resources for translating national development policies and programmes into concrete action; 3. Invites Africa's partners, especially the international financial institutions, to assist African countries in the alignment of their poverty reduction strategies to the Millennium Development Goals and their integration into their national macroeconomic framework; 4. Encourages those development partners, including the multilateral finance institutions, to align development assistance to national priority programmes for better utilization of national implementation capacities; 5. Requests the secretariat of the ECA to assist African countries to strengthen their capacities in the area of data collection and statistical analyses in order to develop performance indicators and statistics for MDG tracking.