Today, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and The Netherlands' Minister for Development Cooperation, Mrs Eveline Herfkens, entered into an agreement which provides for support from The Netherlands to ECA of USD 2 million per year for the coming three years. The Netherlands' contribution is fully unearmarked and intended to support ECA's extra budgetary funding requirements. The Netherlands' support to ECA is firmly rooted in the Dutch Africa Policy, which attributes tremendous importance to regional co-operation on the continent. Also the OAU has benefited already from this policy with financial support to the tune of USD 1,6 million USD for the restructuring of the Secretariat. The agreement was signed by Mr Patrick Chiumya, Officer in charge of the Commission, on behalf of ECA, and by Mr Jeroen Verheul, Chargé d'Affaires a.i., on behalf of the Netherlands Embassy.

By supporting and strengthening the ECA, the Netherlands hopes to:

• Strengthen the African voice in international fora.
  ECA is one of the main players in fostering African debate on development issues. The "Global Compact with Africa" as drafted by ECA, is exemplary in this respect. It contains an innovative agenda for development cooperation in the future. It will be further refined in order to serve as an operationalizion of the "New African Initiative", as adopted by the OAU-summit in Lusaka of July 2001.

• Stimulate discussion on development issues and peerreview amongst African countries.
  Discussions on the PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, required for HIPC-funding) between various like minded African countries (PRSP leaning group) are an example hereof. Furthermore, the ABig Table Meeting@ in November 2000 provided for open and informal discussion between African and European ministers. Such discussions are of vital importance for the international development debate. Furthermore, they provide for a better understanding between African and European partners. As the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation attaches great importance to those meetings, she has offered to host the next "Big Table Meeting" in the Netherlands, in October of this year.

• Support processes of regional integration.
  ECA will produce an Aannual report on economic integration@ and tries, by doing so, to point out the technical weaknesses in the processes towards integration. Many (sub)regional treaties are signed and many good intentions are expressed, but what happens in reality ? The Treaty for an African Union is a remarkable step in the process towards regional integration. However, a lot of work remains to be done to make the Treaty work. ECA could make an important contribution in supporting the implementation of this treaty. Furthermore, the African Development Forum 2001, organized in close cooperation with the OAU, will be focussed on regional integration.

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