Thirty-fourth session of the Commission/ Twenty-fifth meeting of the Conference of Ministers/Ninth Meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance 

Ministerial Resolution on the Development of the African initiative

Algiers, Algeria, 10 May 2001

We, the Ministers of Finance and Ministers of Economic Development and Planning of Africa, having met in Algiers from 8 to 10 May 2001 at our Joint Conference under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Africa;

Recognizing with appreciation the respective initiatives of Presidents Mbeki, Obasanjo and Bouteflika in developing the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Program (MAP) and that of President Wade in developing the OMEGA Plan; as well as the Compact for African Recovery articulated at the direction of the Conference of Ministers of Finance in Addis Ababa, November 2000;

Recalling that the Heads of State who initiated the MAP and the OMEGA Plan had, at the OAU Summit in Sirte in March 2001, recommended to work towards a single initiative for Africa;

Taking note of the useful discussion and positive contributions by Ministers of Finance and Development Planning at this Joint Conference;

And desiring to assist the political leaders of Africa in their efforts to advance African ownership of visions and strategies for the continent’s development;

Do hereby resolve that the process for developing the African initiative be as follows:

1. That development of the MAP and the OMEGA Plan towards a common vision of Africa’s future growth and poverty reduction be conducted through a process of consultation involving the technical experts of the MAP and the OMEGA.

2. In that context, we encourage the forthcoming Abuja workshop on the MAP and the Dakar workshop on the OMEGA Plan to proceed, with the shared objective of advancing into a single initiative, through active participation of the technical experts of the MAP and the OMEGA in both workshops.

3. We therefore request the ECA to assist the technical experts of the MAP and the OMEGA in the process of consolidation, by:

1. Convening a meeting shortly thereafter of the technical experts of the MAP and the OMEGA, bringing in other African institutions and experts as need be, with the aim of arriving at a single program that reflects the national, subregional and regional dimensions.  In elaborating the program, priority should be given to the development of detailed proposals on core priority issues.

2. Participating in the preparatory workshops in Abuja and Dakar; and

4. The draft African initiative from the above process should be presented to the Heads of State of the initiating countries for their review and approval in advance of the OAU Summit in Lusaka.  

We urge the ECA to make its resources and expertise available to ensure the success of this process.  In this regard, we call upon ECA to convene our next Conference of Ministers of Finance and Economic Development and Planning to examine the most effective way we can help to implement the initiative.