United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Meeting of Ministers of the OAU Labour Commission 19th Ordinary Session 15-20 April 1996

Statement by
K.Y. Amoako UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary, ECA
19 April 1996
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Mr. Chairman, The Honourable Representative of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,

Dr. Salim A. Salim, Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity,

Honourable Ministers,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am both honoured and delighted to have been given this opportunity of addressing you at the opening ceremony of the 19th Ordinary Ministerial Session of the OAU Labour Commission, and would like to welcome you most heartily to Africa Hall.

As you have a full agenda before you, I will strive to be as brief as possible. Many of the issues and reports on your agenda relate to areas of long-standing cooperation between the ECA and the OAU, and I would like to take this opportunity to assure you of my own commitment to the strengthening and rationalization of this relationship so as to achieve maximum impact, ensure effective use of scarce resources and avoid duplication of efforts.

Prominent among the items of your agenda reflecting such collaboration are the follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development, Beijing Forth International Conference on Women, and Dakar International Conference on Assistance to the African Child. Needless to state, the successful implementation of the decisions emanating from these conferences is first and foremost a function of the seriousness and effectiveness with which these mandates are carried out at the country level.

Furthermore, since the overall objectives and programmes of action of these conferences are closely interrelated, a high degree of co-ordination is

called for both with respect to the strategies of implementation at the country level and the modalities of providing support, by the UN System and other partners, to African countries within this context.

There is now broad agreement within the UN system that an integrated approach to the implementation of the mandates of global conferences must be put in place and effectively pursued. The elements of this approach were discussed at the meeting of the Ministerial Follow-up Committee of Fifteen of the Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Human Development, which took place in Addis Ababa in November 1995. ECA will adhere to this approach in carrying out its own activities and in cooperating with the OAU and other partners, and will also continue to advocate it to its member States.

Mr. Chairman,

Honourable Ministers and Delegates,

Your Commission is unique in that it provides a platform for dialogue and policy consensus among governments and the representatives of the employers and workers. This social partnership should not only promise vibrancy, breadth of vision and greater realism in debating issues, but should also lead to more seriousness and accountability in the implementation of decisions. As I salute this novelty, I would like to assure you of ECA's full cooperation with the OAU in support of your mission.

I wish your meeting every success, and thank you for your kind attention.