Statement to 3rd Joint Meeting of AU Conference of Ministers of Economy
and Finance and ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

by Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA

29 March 2010
Lilongwe


Your Excellency, Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi and Chairperson of the African Union

Your Excellency, Dr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission

Mr. Hani Kadry Dimian, Deputy Minister of Finance of Egypt representing the out-going Chairperson of the Bureau,

Mr. Chiekh Sidi Diarra, United Nations Under-Secretary and High Representative for Least Developed and Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

Honourable Ministers
Excellencies
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure to have the opportunity to welcome this distinguished gathering of Ministers to the 3rd Joint Meeting of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Finance and Economy and the ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development taking place here in Lilongwe, Malawi.

We are very honoured to have here with us His Excellency, President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, current Chairperson of the African Union. Excellency, we salute your and commend the exemplary path and pace you have set for the socio-economic development of this country. We know and recognize that you have provided intellectual and inspired leadership for Africa not only in UNECA as one of the pioneer intellectuals in our Commission but subsequently in various other capacities over the years. Let me assure you of our unalloyed commitment at ECA to continue to support your noble efforts on behalf of our dear continent. Since our arrival in Lilongwe, we have benefitted from your warm hospitality. I thank you, your Government and the People of this great country. Zikomo Kwambiri.

It gives me great pleasure also to salute my brother and friend, Dr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission for his continued dedication to promoting African development and demonstrated clear support for strengthening the partnership between ECA and the African Union Commission.

When this Ministerial Conference met last year, the world was experiencing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the situation was even more dire for Africa. In spite of the gravity of the situation, it was reassuring to note that our countries focused on how to turn the crisis into an opportunity to re-energise continental development. This was the spirit that informed the deliberations on domestic resource mobilization at your 2009 Conference held under the excellent arrangements of Egypt to whom I extend our sincere thanks. The Cairo spirit should continue to guide the work of this distinguished gathering.

It is encouraging to observe in this context the improved outlook for Africa this year with growth estimated at 4.3%, which is a remarkable improvement from 1.6% achieved last year. This rate is however significantly lower than the rate required to halve poverty by 2015. Moreover, global recovery remains fragile and given the vulnerability of our economies to external shocks, it is only prudent to remain vigilant and to imbibe the hard learnt lessons of the global economic crisis.

One pertinent issue that must be emphasized in this regard, is the need for Africa to re-dedicate itself to acting collectively in order to reduce its vulnerability to external shocks while ensuring that international processes take account of its interests and concerns. This holds true in climate change negotiations as it does for efforts to reform the international financial architecture and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Africa’s decision to negotiate as one in the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference gave us a place at the table and enabled us to move from being victims to active participants in shaping a post-Kyoto climate change regime. As Finance Ministers, you have a key role in ensuring that sufficient resources are available to meet the costs of mitigation and adaptation, while ensuring that the potential contribution of carbon trading to development financing is actualized.

Africa must accordingly mobilize to obtain a substantial proportion of the financial support pledged to developing countries in the Copenhagen Accord. However, such resources only form part of required financial inflows to underpin accelerated growth and development including official development assistance, foreign direct investment, and remittances. Such inflows will need to be supplemented with domestic resources taking account of interesting new perspectives particularly as regards the great potential that exists for using the combined volume of Africa’s foreign exchange reserves and accumulated pension funds to underpin our infrastructural development.

While securing finance for development remains a key priority for Africa’s development, we must also pay equal attention to fashioning suitable policies to accelerate the socio-economic development of our countries and to promote the well-being of our peoples. Certainly, high growth rates must translate into improved standards of living and more jobs for the majority of Africans if our efforts are to be meaningful.

Such considerations informed the recent regional review meeting of the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which took place in Addis Ababa two weeks ago in preparation for a global review taking place in Istanbul in 2011. The review meeting emphasized the importance of resumed growth in LDCs and called on the international community to honour ODA commitments to LDCs and provide them with debt relief as required especially through the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

In a related context, the assessment of progress towards achieving the MDGs is mixed, with varied performance across countries and across goals although there can be no doubt that the global economic crisis has slowed down progress especially with regard to reducing poverty. Your deliberations on this vital subject will no doubt inform Africa’s contribution to the High Level Meeting on MDGs scheduled to take place in New York this September. The key consideration however is to use the opportunity of the crisis to re-configure Africa’s development trajectory to focus on the growth, employment and poverty reduction nexus outlined in the Issues Paper submitted to this Conference.

It is very pertinent to note in this regard that we very often draw a direct link between growth and poverty reduction but sometimes overlook the direct and critical role of employment in increasing household earnings and its dynamic function in providing modern skills and contributing to increased output. It is also worth pointing out that the migration of thousands of young Africans often through risky and dangerous methods is driven by a lack of decent job opportunities. Indeed, our collective exertions to promote growth and development will begin to show desired results when the vast majority of Africans are gainfully employed.

It is therefore fitting that this meeting is devoted to the theme -“Promoting high-level sustainable growth to reduce unemployment in Africa”. The economic crisis has compelled a global rethink of development strategies and policies and deliberations here cannot be any different. Fortunately, we have the very insightful discussions of the Committee of Experts as well as the example of structural transformation in other developing country regions to inform the debate on this theme.

Overcoming jobless growth in Africa would also require strategies to increase agricultural productivity and manufacturing value-added. In agriculture, we share the noble goal articulated by the Chairperson of the African Union that no African child should die from hunger and malnutrition in five years time, if appropriate steps are taken now to feed Africa through new technologies. Indeed, the example of Malawi is there to show us that good leadership and the right mix of policies backed by appropriate use of science, technology and innovation can transform the African agriculture.

Science, technology and innovation (STI) can also be similarly deployed in industry, energy generation, climate change, health and education. In particular, it is essential to promote scientific thinking and awareness on the important role of science, technology and innovation in development. This is why ECA started the Science in Africa Conference series, the second session of which will take place in Addis Ababa just over two months from now.

The private sector similarly has a major role to play in efforts to increase employment and productivity, as it is a vital source of innovation and competitiveness. Its contribution would however need to be matched by a widening of the African economic space through regional integration and the removal of barriers to intra-Africa trade. This year’s ‘Assessing Regional Integration in Africa’ report due to be published by the ECA, AUC and AfDB next month addresses ‘intra-Africa trade’ and it provides valuable insights on how to scale-up performance in this crucial component of regional integration.

The attainment of all these socio-economic objectives requires capable and dynamic states structures that can provide a coherent vision, promote social cohesion and drive economic transformation. As we continue to contemplate the precise nature of such a developmental state, it is pretty much clear that it must provide political stability, govern well and have the capacity to formulate and implement required policies. The Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), supported by ECA, AUC and the African Development Bank provides a platform for debate by policymakers and various stakeholders interested in the development of this continent.

These were also some of the considerations behind your decision to reposition the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning, IDEP. I am pleased to report that the IDEP Governing Council met in Dakar two weeks ago and approved a strategic plan for the Institute. Based on the work accomplished thus far, and the new directions laid out, I can say that the task of repositioning IDEP has been satisfactorily concluded and it is now set to support member States efforts to develop and renew high-level human capacity for economic management and development.

Late last year we also reviewed ECA’s performance since its repositioning in 2006 and found that there was substantial progress across the board in programme areas with minor changes required to further improve service delivery. A new ECA Business Plan was also elaborated for the period 2010-2012 following on the success of the first plan which covered 2007-2009. The new Business Plan is closely aligned to the priorities of the African Union and was presented alongside the AU Strategic Plan at a Partners Dialogue in December 2009. We count on the support of our member States and partners to achieve the objectives of the new Business Plan, as we endeavour to support the African Union and its NEPAD programme.

Providing support to the regional economic communities continues to be a vital component of ECA’s work at the sub-regional level. Accordingly, and in order to assess progress that has been made in this regard, an independent evaluation of the UN Secretary-General’s Action Plan to enhance the role of ECA’s sub-regional offices was commissioned. The evaluation report has been submitted to this Conference and I hope that member States will approve its recommendations and support our efforts to implement them.

I wish to conclude by thanking President Mutharika for taking time from his very busy schedule to be here with us today. I know that quality of debate and deliberations at this Conference will justify his support for our work. On our part, we at ECA will remain engaged in close partnership with the African Union Commission to generate knowledge and stimulate debate on issues on the African development agenda. We count on the continued active engagement of our member States in undertaking these noble tasks.

Thank you for your kind attention.