CAADP

In the Agricultural sector, an important initiative named the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) has been concluded in the framework of NEPAD. The regional communities and national Governments have identified high priority projects and early actions. To demonstrate their commitment to implement NEPAD, African Governments have made firm financial commitments. For example, in 2003 African leaders committed themselves to increasing national budget allocations to agriculture to at least 10% per annum by 2008. Development partners and multilateral institutions have also been mobilized around CAADP. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), IFAD, World Bank, the United States AID and World Food Programme (WFP) have all provided significant support in the advancement of the CAADP. The CAADP implementation process is now being rolled out at the country level, with the support and leadership of RECs. As part of strengthening and accelerating country level implementation of CAADP, the SADC and ECOWAS Secretariats have received support in the form of dedicated CAADP coordinators, whose role is to coordinate country activities with RECs. Another area where progress is being made is under Pillar no. 4 of CAADP-Research Technology Transfer and Adoption, whereby significant resources from development partners are now earmarked for country implementation, and strengthening the capacity of sub-regional research organizations.

Closely linked to the CAADP is the Africa Productive Capacity Initiative. The Africa Productive Capacity Initiative (APCI) has been launched with the purpose of ensuring that African Economies raise the Manufacturing Value Addition to 17% of GDP. This would ensure that African countries achieve the targeted annual economic growth rates of 7% GDP, as well as make African products more competitive in international markets.

The Investment Climate Facility

An initiative named the Investment Climate Facility for Africa has been successfully developed and launched, to address key bottlenecks impeding African countries in improving their investment climates. It is a public-private financial facility seeking to make African countries more attractive to investment. The United Kingdom (UK) government will provide $30 million over 3 years to the Investment Climate Facility. Royal Dutch Shell plc and Shell Foundation also announced that they would contribute a combined total of $2.5 million over 5 years, and Anglo American confirmed that they would also contribute $2.5 million over the same period. It is important that the African Private Sector also contributes to the Investment Climate Facility so as to ensure that it achieves its targeted goals.