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Addis Ababa, 16 September 2008– ECA: About 60 experts from UN agencies, the African Union Commission (AUC), NEPAD Secretariat and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), today began a two-day meeting to review an independent report on measures to enhance the UN regional consultation mechanism (RCM) in support of the African Union and its NEPAD programme.
The five-chapter report, prepared by Dr. Alioune Sall, the Executive Director of The Futures Group, contains a brief overview of the current coordination efforts, the challenges faced and some recommendations for the way forward.
In a welcoming address, the Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA, Lalla Ben-Barka, said it had become necessary to re-examine how to make the RCM work better in the light of its expansion to include the AU, RECs and NEPAD Secretariat.
She said the study would “help us find better ways of implementing the recommendations of RCM meetings in the spirit of the Declaration on enhancing UN-AU cooperation signed in November 2006 and the 10-year Capacity Building Programme for the AU”.
Madame Ben-Barka said that the RCM had been given greater visibility with the UN deputy Secretary-General now serving as its Chairperson and the high level participation of African regional and subregional organizations in RCM meetings.
But she said coordination of UN activities at the sub-regional level was yet to be realized, while communication among clusters and sub-clusters needed to be strengthened to ensure better coherence and efficiency.
“Equally important is the need to overcome systemic problems that deter joint planning, programming and implementation of activities in support of the AU and its NEPAD programme,” she said.
The AUC Commissioner for Social Affairs, Adv Bience Gawanas, said UN/AU relationship had survived many bumpy roads and that the two organizations were now more solidly united in the service of Africa.
She said the AUC could no longer excuse itself on the basis of its newness. “We have a clear mandate and vision regarding where we want to take Africa and we know we can achieve peace, stability and socio-economic development in the continent,” she said.
Advocate Gawanas said it was unacceptable for mothers to die during child birth and for children to go hungry in Africa and urged the UN system to deepen its work in order to achieve “the Africa we desire”.