Kigali — Principals of the African Union Commission, Economic Commission for Africa and the Africa Development Bank (AUC/ECA/AfDB) Joint Secretariat, Drs. Nkosazana Ndlamini-Zuma, Carlos Lopes and Akinwumi A. Adesina, have restated their resolve to continue to work together in advancing Africa's development agenda, including through strengthening the AUC/ECA/AfDB Joint Secretariat Support Office (JSSO).

This was one of the major outcomes of the recently concluded Joint Secretariat meeting, which the three leaders held on the 16th of July 2016, in Kigali, Rwanda on the margins of the 27th Summit of the African Union.

The meeting, which was preceded by a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Joint Secretariat Support Office, reviewed the context of the establishment of the Joint Secretariat and the role of its Joint Secretariat Support Office; as well as discussed a number of challenges that the office has faced since its inception back in 2011. The AUC/ECA/AfDB leaders pledged to continue to put their respective comparative advantages at the service of the continent and emphasized the need to continue to speak with one voice over issues relating to the development trajectory of the continent.

They stressed the importance of joint planning among the three institutions, as well as the imperative for a mind-set change among staff of the three institutions, away from all forms of latent and manifest rivalry, towards one of complementarity, geared towards achieving the common goal of advancing Africa's socio-economic transformation and development.

The Principals recognized that JSSO continues to be an important institutional arrangement to advance collaboration between the Joint Secretariat Institutions, in light especially of the advent of Agenda 2063 and its first ten-year implementation plan, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the AfDB's high Priority Areas of intervention - the High-5, which have further increased the need for the three institutions to continue to work together.

They reaffirmed their commitment to the Joint Secretariat office, including through providing it with the requisite political guidance and strategic direction. They also committed to providing the office with adequate financial and human resources, which would make the office more effective, and also enable it to contribute meaningfully to affording the collective interventions of the three institutions in various continental development efforts appropriate visibility.

They directed the Steering Committee to convene, as soon as possible, to elaborate on the areas of focus of the work of JSSO, its short-term and long-term work programmes, as well as on budgetary, accountability and results related issues.

They concluded their meeting with a commitment to continue to communicate and consult each other on shared continental agendas - both physically and virtually.