Opening Remarks

by

Richard Kaijuka

Chairman of the Bureau, ECA

and Minister of Planning and Economic Development

Government of Uganda

It is my pleasure, as current chairman of ECA’s ministerial bureau, to open this conference. My colleagues on the Bureau and I greet and welcome each of you.

Of course, this is more than a conference. It is a celebration of ECA’s 40 years of work on behalf of Africa. It is also a celebration of Africa’s women, whose future progress has enormous implications for the progress of all of Africa.

Forty years ago, on April 29, 1958, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations voted to establish the UN Economic Commission for Africa. When it began its operations, shortly thereafter, ECA was composed of 8 African member states (only three of which were in Sub-Saharan Africa), the Union of South Africa (which was suspended from membership five years later) and six colonial powers. ECA is now composed of 53 member states, all of them independent states of Africa.

When ECA was established it was Africa’s first regional institution. It was soon joined by its esteemed political counter-part, the Organization of African Unity, and then by the ECA-initiated African Development Bank. There followed a large number of other regional organizations instituted by ECA. ECA still sponsors many of these organizations.

ECA’s work provided the initiative, support and organizing role for a great many substantive initiatives: on overall planning with the Lagos Plan of Action; on industrialization, on transport, on economic cooperation providing the momentum for the Abuja Treaty, on information technology from establishing the first African regional data network through to its current work leading the African Information Society Initiative, on strengthening civil society now with a special centre devoted to this task, and so many other substantive contributions.

ECA has been Africa’s meeting ground and coordination centre for economic and development policy, through ministers of finance and planning. Parallel coordination takes place through regular meetings of Africa’s ministers of industry, ministers of social affairs, ministers of trade, ministers and networks on women in development, and expert groups on demographics, environment, and science and technology.

ECA established and operates subregional offices to provide closer technical support to member states. It has become a close ally of regional economic communities, several of which it has fostered in very substantial ways.

So there is a lot to celebrate in 40 years of work.

Among its most significant contributions has been early and sustained recognition of the necessity of women to be co-equal in Africa’s development. I am so glad that Margaret Snyder is with us for this conference. She was the first staff member working on women’s issues at ECA and subsequently was the founding director of the United Nations Fund for Women. As Ms. Snyder makes clear in the book, "African Women and Development", which she co-authored with Mary Tadesse, ECA’s work with African women established the whole field of women and development placing the origin of this field in Africa, not, as is so often held, among Westerners. And this work at ECA continues with great executive force.

Throughout ECA’s history, the support of the UN’s Economic and Social Council and General Assembly as well as of the UN executive branch has been steadfast and vital. We are grateful that so many colleagues from the UN are with us for this conference. I am very glad that two former Executive Secretaries of ECA are with us for this conference: Issa Diallo and Layachi Yaker. I also want to acknowledge and honor both former and present ECA staff. And we are all grateful for the leadership of ECA’s outstanding current Executive Secretary, K.Y. Amoako.

Linkages with civil society have been long-standing and are being strengthened through many new partnerships. We are glad civil society leaders are here in force.

Partnerships, always desirable, have become a necessity given the stringency of U.N. budgets. We are glad that the ideas and resources of many international partnerships also are represented here.

ECA’s core constituency, of course, is its member states. And no state has been more a partner of ECA than the Government of Ethiopia which has extended its hospitality and support to ECA for all of ECA’s 40 years.

The Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency Meles Zenawi, exemplifies his country’s strong links with ECA, both in his capacity as the host national leader and during his distinguished tenure as chairman of the Organization of African Unity. It is thus a particular pleasure to welcome to this podium Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.