Addis Ababa — The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are set to working together on various environment-related issues in Africa, including the economic costs of climate change and how to finance the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The agreement to deepen their collaboration was made here in Addis Ababa on Monday between Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of ECA and Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP.

The two UN agencies made an agreement in Addis Ababa on Monday by The heads of the two organizations, , also agreed to revise their existing Memorandum of Understanding to cover mutual areas of interests, including environmental statistics, the economics of adaptation, geographical information service and sustainable production and consumption.

Mr. Steiner, who became the head of UNEP in June 2006, visited Addis Ababa to hold talks with leaders of UN agencies and the Chairperson of the African Union, Prof Alpha Konare.

During the visit, he said he would like ECA and UNEP to pay more attention on the linkages between economics and the environment, adding, "In many respects, the environment is still seen as a tax on development, instead of an investment".

Pledging ECA's support, Mr. Janneh said African Ministers of Finance had already pronounced themselves on the issues of climate change and that the work of UNEP could help clarify many difficult questions that the ministers may have.

He called on UNEP to play more active role in the UN regional consultation mechanism in support of African Union and its NEPAD program.