Algiers — African Ministers of Finance and Planning have agreed to consolidate parallel plans for Africa's recovery into a single initiative around which the continent will rally in its quest for development.
Deliberations in the 2001 Joint Conference of African Ministers of Finance and Ministers of Planning and Economic Development had been dominated by a discussion of three new development initiatives: the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme (MAP), proposed last year by Presidents Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa; the Omega Plan, proposed by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal; and the Compact for African Recovery, developed by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
At the end of the three-day conference organized by ECA and hosted by the Government of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria more than 40 ministers adopted a compromise resolution that gives equal recognition to the MAP and Omega, and which cites the Compact as a key technical input.
The resolution details a process of consultation that will lead to a single African initiative being presented to African Heads of State and Government at the Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001. It calls for the active participation of experts in technical workshops being organized by the MAP and Omega groups in Abuja, Nigeria (May) and Dakar, Senegal (June) respectively.
The resolution assigns ECA a role as facilitator, requesting the Commission to assist the technical experts of the MAP and Omega in the consolidation exercise by participating in the workshops, and to convene a meeting after the two workshops to arrive at a consolidated programme. This programme should be presented to the Heads of State of the five initiating countries Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa for their review and approval in advance of the OAU Lusaka Summit.
ECA had agreed that its Compact developed at the behest of Finance Ministers who met in Addis Ababa in November 1999 could serve as the technical underpinning for a single African initiative. Earlier in the week, ECA Executive Secretary, K.Y. Amoako, had explained to Ministers the role ECA envisaged for the Compact as a support to Africa speaking with one voice.
The key challenge of the meeting was to forge consensus between the MAP and the Omega. A number of delegates had stressed that Africa could not afford parallel initiatives. The meeting was also reminded that a Summit of African leaders in Sirte, Libya in February had decreed that the two initiatives be merged.
However, the delegation of Senegal which included three Ministers insisted that the Omega Plan constituted the most operational of the initiatives on the table. As a result, much of the conference was dominated by efforts to bring about convergence between the MAP and the Omega. The Conference Bureau, consisting of Algeria, Gabon, Mali, South Africa and Tanzania, met several times to discuss the problem, and there was a great deal of behind-the-scenes mediation.
A Ministerial Statement was also issued alongside the Resolution, reflecting the hard-won consensus on a single African initiative arrived at after three days of tough negotiations. In the statement, ministers welcome both the MAP and the Omega Plan, support the recommendation of African leaders at Sirte to work towards a single initiative, and concur that such an initiative should provide an appropriate framework for Africa's development.
The ministers also congratulate ECA for the quality of the Compact document. Articulating at an important facilitation role for ECA which remains the only United Nations body that works exclusively on Africa the ministers "strongly encourage ECA to continue working with the leaders of this integrated initiative as they continue to develop it".
The Ministerial Statement constitutes a reflection of issues of concern to Africa's key economic and financial policymakers, and is intended to stimulate further discussion at country level, as well as to place African concerns squarely on the table at upcoming international development events including the Third United Nations Conference of Least Developed Countries (Brussels), the Qatar Conference of the World Trade Organization and the G-7 and G-8 meetings (Genoa).
The statement calls for:
- effective governance, particularly transparent and accountable public management systems; - grants rather than loans to help the fight against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases; - increased priority for education and capacity building; - a special initiative to support information and communication technologies for development; - a fundamental transformation of the aid relationship based on African ownership; - appropriate policies that take into account the diversity of Africas economies; - a rapid and sustainable exit from debt; - the removal of all further barriers to trade, particularly tariff peaks and tariff escalation; and - a common African position in the next trade round;
Ministers also agreed that the ECA Joint Conference which brings together Finance as well as Planning and Economic Development policymakers should convene annually. In the past, ECA convened Finance ministers and Planning ministers separately in alternate years. The rationalization was proposed because a large number of African countries have combined the two interlinked functions under a single ministerial umbrella. The next Joint Conference will take place not later than March 2001.
