Agriculture, Trade and Market Access

Documents

Back-to- Office Report

Abdoulaye Niang
Sustainable Development Division

29 November 2004
Pretoria, Republic of South Africa

Introduction

1. The reporting officer attended a joint meeting of UN Agriculture, Trade and Market Access and CAADP Support Group held on November 30, 2004. The meeting was held at the headquarters of NEPAD in Pretoria, the Republic of South Africa.

2. The meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Justin Rushemeza of FAO and Mr. Richard Mkandawire of NEPAD. The rapporteur is Mr. Abdoulaye Niang assisted by Mr. Ulac of IFAD and Augustin Wambo of NEPAD. It was attended by ADB, the Department of Agriculture of South Africa, FARA, FAO, ECA, IFAD, UNIDO, NEPAD, WFP and the World Bank (Annex 1).

Proceedings

3. The meeting reviewed progress made in partnering with NEPAD in implementing the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Each participating organization made a brief presentation of the activities undertaken in the areas of food and agriculture with the special reference to the period July to December 2004.

4. It is observed that major activities of the UN Organizations, as contained in the Work Programme, were often reported as carried out within CAADP. It is also observed that an increasing number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) have been signed to guide the partnership of the said Organization with NEPAD. The MoU does not encourage joint planning and implementation as expected under the Cluster system.

5. The draft report of the meeting is under review and will be distributed and posted under the website early in January 2005. The presentation of ECA is attached (Annex 2 and 3).

6. The main outcome of the meeting is that it was agreed that the Cluster will meet with the Support Group under CAADP Support Group and the chair of NEPAD. This arrangement had the advantage of reducing the number of meetings for NEPAD, in particular, and to bridge the gap of communication between the Cluster (technical arm) and the Support Group (more on financing side).

7. The Cluster will continue to report to the Regional Consultation as in the past but on joint activities. The above-mentioned arrangement solved the problem raised during the meeting of July 2004 for the creation of a new Cluster on Productive Capacity under the leadership of UNIDO.

8. The meeting agreed to improve communication through the use of the dedicated website (www.uneca.org/unregionalconsultations). It had agreed also to activate the Cluster e-discussion facility for greater and productive interactions within and between Clusters. ECA is requested to serve as moderator of the e-discussions.

9. The meeting noted that financial resources exist for projects regional in scope and scale but African States are reluctant to use these resources as most of them pursue national self-reliance approach to development. The meeting felt that the CAADP Support Group should assist member States to engage their governments and business communities in business ventures of regional scope and scale.

10. The Chairman of the NEPAD Steering Committee, Professor Nkulu Wiseman, attended partially the meeting. He requested the participants to contribute in rethinking development process to ensure increased coordination and integration in development activities for “material improvement of the life” of African people. He urged participants to attend the planned regional Workshops on Regional Implementation Planning (RIP). He requested input on agriculture for the UK Commission for Africa.

Follow-up Activities

11. The implication for ECA/SDD is that it will be requested to take active participation at the Workshop of RIP. ECA is expected to participate in providing input in wealth creation to guide the NEPAD Steering Committee. It is also expected to provide an input for UK Commission for Africa in the area of agriculture.

12. The reporting officer is expected in particular to provide input on wealth creation. A draft is being prepared. He promised to forward the input of ECA into the UK Commission for Africa which had benefited of the input of the Director General of FAO. He is expected to initiate and perhaps monitor the Cluster e-discussion.