The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
Melaku Demissie
31 March 2007
September 2007 will mark the mid-point on the road to 2015, the date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were adopted by world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 as part of the Millennium Declaration.
African ministers of finance, planning and economic development are to meet in Addis from April 2-3 to discus how to accelerate growth on the continent to meet the MDGs. Recent assessments by ECA and others conclude that Africa is at risk of not achieving the goals by the date.
The MDGs are time-bound goals and targets that represent the international community's commitment to reduce extreme poverty in half and improve key indicators of human development by 2015 relative to their 1990 levels.
The committee of experts, who are meeting beforehand at a preparatory conference from March 29 to April 1, explained that this mid-point will be a powerful reminder to African governments and their development partners that time is fast running out and that the date of international commitment to meet the MDGs through needed investments and policies will soon be past.
During the two-day meeting the ministers are expected to discuss key topics including growth, employment and inequality in Africa; scaling up financing and public sector investments; planning, monitoring and tracking economic performance; peace and security; and partnerships and globalization.
The meeting also features a panel discussion involving Benjamin Mkapa, former president of the United Republic of Tanzania, Indian Minister of State and Planning Commission member, and other prominent persons. The panelists are also expected to bring their considerable experience in global economic policy/making to enrich the discussion on strategies and the way forward to achieving the MDGs. One important area for discussion will be the design of the right mix of interventions that African countries need to implement in order to accelerate growth and development.
According to experts in the field, Africa has numerous challenges in achieving the targeted MDGs. Recently, many African countries have been growing at more than five percent pre annum. However, many countries show smaller or negative growth rates. Hence, the most critical challenge for many countries is facilitating growth and sustaining enhanced growth.
Climate change is another challenge. Climate variability is adversely affecting growth including agriculture and manufacturing. Other challenges include employment creation, scaling up financing and public sector investments, the poor state of infrastructure which is an impediment to domestic market and regional integration, and the challenges relating to planning, policy environment, monitoring and tracking performance.
In addition to the ministers, more than 200 participants, including central bank governors, leading academics and researchers and international partners are expected to attend.
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