Meeting Between Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Mr. Jean Ping, Incoming Chairperson of the African Union Commission  

26 March 2008

His Excellency, Mr. Jean Ping, Incoming Chairperson of the African Union Commission called on Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa at ECA headquarters in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, 26 March 2008.

Both of them discussed wide-ranging issues on African development and felt that in addition to consolidating on-going progress in peace and security, emphasis should also be given to scaling up the development pillar in order to accelerating the pace of development and regional integration in Africa. Mr. Ping expressed his keen desire to work closely with ECA in this regard and both he and Mr. Janneh emphasized the need to give momentum to the implementation of the Abuja Treaty and the actualization of the NEPAD vision for Africa .

Mr. Ping and Mr. Janneh also stressed the importance of strengthening the existing partnership between the African Union Commission and the Economic Commission for Africa taking account of their respective competencies and strengths. The Incoming Chairperson of the AUC and the Executive Secretary agreed on the need to strengthen the tripartite relationship with the African Development Bank and to work together in this regard to explore institutional mechanisms for even closer collaboration and cooperation among the three institutions.

Mr. Ping promised to hold continuous and on-going consultations with Mr. Janneh and to start this process when he returns to Addis Ababa in May 2008 to assume his new role.