Johannesburg — The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) embodies a united vision of a continent on the move, at a time of unprecedented international interest in proposals to move the world's least developed region forward.
Speaking at the opening session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development which began in Johannesburg this morning, Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of conference organizer the Economic Commission for Africa, attributed the current mood of optimism to the exceptional level of political unity shown by Africa's leaders.
"I believe that we would never have come so far had it not been for the political unity and leadership demonstrated here in Africa", said Mr. Amoako. "Political leadership has gone way beyond shaping NEPAD. It has been applied to influence the resolution of long-standing issues of peace in the region; to face with determination our need to effectively organize to prevent conflict; to convince our development partners that Africa must be the major focus of international development cooperation; and to make our case for greater market access and for more debt relief".
Stressing that more work was needed to fully explain NEPAD to Africans, Mr. Amoako debunked four myths: NEPAD, he stressed, was a robust framework that would not usurp national decisions or force any country into a straight jacket. Furthermore, NEPAD was open to every country and recognized diversity among countries. Most of the resources required for NEPAD's implementation are targeted for domestic resource mobilization. And peer reviews can only take place when a country volunteers to be reviewed.
Mr. Amoako cited sound policy-making and public expenditure management, market access, mutual accountability and debt as four important areas for the implementation of NEPAD.
Stressing that the processes to be employed by NEPAD were to a greater or lesser extent already been used by many countries, Mr. Amoako said that what was different about NEPAD was that it " attempts to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts and tries to put wind in your sails of reform".
African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development have begun three days of intensive talks in what is the largest gathering of Ministers and experts dealing with economic policy in Africa on NEPAD since its endorsement by African leaders at the inaugural summit of the African Union in Durban in July 2002.
In addition to the Ministers, more than 500 participants -- including central bank governors, leading academics and researchers, civil society and private sector representatives, and the international community -- are taking part.
The theme of the Conference is "Accelerating Africa's Performance and Progress: The challenge of NEPAD".
In his address, Mr. Trevor Manuel, South Africa's Finance Minister and incoming Chair of the Conference, stressed that the time had arrived for Africa to "put our deeds into action" and focus on the implementation of NEPAD.
Mr. Manual cited three key tasks for Africa's policy makers in meeting the implementation challenge: an unwavering commitment to mobilizing domestic resources; the need for an enabling domestic environment for private sector participation and enhanced intra-regional trade; and the importance of good governance involving participation of all sectors of society.
Turning to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Mr. Manuel stressed that it would be owned and driven by Africans as " a relevant instrument focusing on capacity building through participation in peer learning". He urged African countries to take the lead in financing the Mechanism so as to ensure true ownership.
In his statement, Mr. Amara Essy, Interim Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, emphasized the need for Africans to be in the driving seat, both in determining the course of their own development, and in financing the needed actions.
Mr. Essy lambasted the international community for failing to make sufficient progress in addressing Africas external debt. He dubbed as "feeble" commitments made at recent global international conferences - including the Financing for Development conference in Monterrey and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
For NEPAD to achieve its goals, Mr. Essy said national as well as sub-regional priorities must be aligned to its objectives.
Ministers are now meeting in closed session to discuss three broad issues:
- Actions African countries must take to translate the principles and objectives of NEPAD to country level actions;
- Actions Africa's development partners must take to support the principles and objectives of NEPAD; and
- How the APRM can be operationalized to track and monitor the performance of individual African countries.
A Ministerial Statement detailing substantive recommendations from the meeting will be released on Monday. It is intended to serve as a blueprint for action that African leaders will adopt at the next NEPAD Implementation Committee meeting scheduled to take place in Abuja, Nigeria on 3 November 2002.
