Addis Ababa — A team of advisors to the Bureau of ECOSOC, Independent Team of Advisors (ITA), today dialogued with representatives of ECA, AUC and their member states on how the UN Development System (UNDS) can be adapted to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

During the meeting, which took place at ECA's headquarters in Addis Ababa, ITA's co-chair, Klaus Toper, said his team wanted to listen and learn ways of enhancing the regional dimension of work done within the UN system.

"We are here to hear your experiences, expectations and recommendations on the question of whether the UN is fit for purpose for agenda 2030," Said Toper. "We want to know what you think should be in our limelight to change and develop capacities at the regional level."

ECA's deputy executive secretary, Giovanie Biha, expressed the need for UN to pay special attention to Africa's priority issues.

"In order to deliver and to support countries in achieving the SDGs, the UNDS needs to focus on issues that are considered as priority for the continent,"said Biha.

Similarly, AUC's deputy chief of staff, Febe Potgieter-Gqubule, stated that Africa is somehow slowed down by the influence of some development partners.

"The kind of policies that African countries are forced to introduce by the IMF, for example, pose a major problem for the continent in terms of its ability to implement the very sustainable development goals we're talking about," said Potgieter-Gqubule.

ITA members also sought to know what efforts were being made to forge regional integration toward achieving Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063. In response, ECA's Biha highlighted the just-ended joint AUC-ECA annual Conference of Ministers, which focused on an integrated approach to Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.

"We just addressed the issue of regional coordination mechanism at our conference of ministers, especially in terms of how to realign and support some working committees to achieve agenda 2030 and 2063," said Biha. "It is clear that for us, agenda 2030 is an integral part of agenda 2063."

Responding to the same question on regional integration, AUC's deputy chief of staff said, " There has been over the last four - five years a vibrant interaction between the three continental institutions (AUC, ECA and ADB) in terms of overall strategic issues of development facing the continent. For example, the development of agenda 2063, the common African position on the SDGs but also on an ongoing basis, the monitoring and evaluation of these continental frameworks." Potgieter-Gqubule added that the subject of financing Africa's development is something the three institutions are concerned about.

Generally, participants from ECA, AUC and their member states were of the opinion that paying special attention to Africa's priority issues will enhance the attainment of the new SDGs.

ITA was established in February 2016 by ECOSOC to assist member states in their deliberations to make the UN system ready to support the implementation of the new development agenda, by providing ideas and options for the future of the UNDS.