DECISION ON THE REPORT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
ORIENTATION COMMITTEE (HSGOC) ON NEPAD
Doc. Assembly/AU/6(XXII)
The Assembly,
NOTES WITH APPRECIATION the report by the Chairperson of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal.
ENDORSES the conclusions of the Thirtieth Session of the HSGOC.
REITERATES the overriding importance for NEPAD to speed up the actualization of Africa’s development objectives in the context of Agenda 2063 as the African Union long-term strategy by focusing on industrialization, youth employment, improved natural resource governance and the reduction of inequalities.
WELCOMES AND ADOPTS the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) Strategic Plan: 2014-2017 which is inspired by the AU Agenda 2063 and based on the Commission’s Strategic Plan for similar period. CALLS UPON Member States, Regional Economic Communities, African regional and global partner institutions to support the Agency in the implementation of the Plan.
FURTHER ENDORSES the NPCA programmatic activities and initiatives undertaken in 2013 NOTING IN PARTICULAR the measures taken to fulfill the core mandate of facilitating and coordinating key programmes with particular reference to Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition and Infrastructure. COMMENDS the implementation work of the NPCA which has energized regional and continental programme delivery.
RECALLS the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.488(XXI) based on the conclusions of 29th HSGOC on Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) for NEPAD programmes/projects and NOTES WITH SATISFACTION the finalization of the Study Report. URGES the NPCA and UNECA in conjunction with UNDP, AfDB and UNCTAD to engage Member States and stakeholders on the dissemination of the proposed Study conclusions and findings through relevant Ministries of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, private sector organizations and the investment community.
HIGHLY COMMENDS the impressive update on the progress towards implementing the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) presented by H.E. Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the HSGOC PICI High-Level Sub Committee including the status of the North-South Corridor with additional briefings by H.E. Goodluck Jonathan, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline; H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda on the East Africa Community
Regional ICT project and H.E. Abdelmalek Sellal, Prime Minister of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria on the Trans-Sahara Optic Fiber project.
ENDORSES the key outcomes of the Transform Africa Summit hosted by H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda in October 2013 which adopted the SMART Africa Manifesto highlighting the need to place ICT at the centre of national socio-economic development agenda and SMART Africa Alliance as implementation framework.
EXTENDS APPRECIATION to the PICI Chair and the Champion Heads of State and Government for their continued political commitment and strategic support, UNDERSCORING that PICI serves as the nucleus of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA).
ACCORDINGLY REQUESTS the NPCA to intensify consultations with the foot-print Member States, RECs, African Development Bank and UNECA to advance the full implementation of approved PICI projects towards providing in-depth diagnostic of the remaining financing gaps, policy, legal and regulatory obstacles to stimulate project development and bankability.
RECALLS the proposal of the Government of the Republic of Senegal to host a High-Level Summit on Financing NEPAD programmes in the form of the Dakar Financing Summit (DFS) for Africa’s Infrastructure to take forward the DRM agenda and REGRETFULLY NOTES that the Summit could not take place in December 2013 as scheduled. AGREES that the HSGOC Chairperson would further consult with African Leaders on a new period for the Financing Summit.
REINFORCES the critical need for financial investments and leveraging publicprivate partnerships as direct input for infrastructure development and ACKNOWLEDGES the role of African regional and global development finance institutions (DFIs) to mobilize domestic financial resources. IN PARTICULAR WELCOMES the Africa50 Investment Vehicle by AfDB as an African-owned and led initiative to mobilize adequate funds for infrastructure development.
APPRECIATES the launch of 2014 as the Year of Agriculture and Food Security to mark the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture and Development Programme (CAADP)” with focus on “Transforming Africa’s Agriculture for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, through Harnessing Opportunities for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development.
WELCOMES the publication on “Agriculture in Africa - Transformation and Outlook for the next 20 years” by the NPCA at the request of the Chairperson of AU Commission.
REQUESTS Member States, the Commission and NPCA along with stakeholders and development partners to scale up their collaboration towards sustaining of the CAADP momentum by focusing on agro-industry and entrepreneurship, access to land for small-holder farmers, women and youth, linkages between job creation, food security and nutrition, as well as lesson learning on CAADP accomplishments.
REAFFIRMS the immense and continued contributions of NEPAD to forging mutually-beneficial partnerships under the auspices of the African Union by advocating Africa’s common positions and interests in global development processes especially the G8, G20 and BRICS. IN THIS REGARD EXAMINES the impact of current Africa’s partnership engagements particularly the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) established by the 2003 Evian G8 Summit in France to catalyze support for Africa’s development through NEPAD with G8-OECD partners.
EXPRESSES CONCERN at the recent operational modalities of the APF particularly in the past two (2) years, NOTING that the evaluation of the APF after 10 years of existence as reflected in the Dakar Reform Proposals did not deliver the desired results. AGREES that an umbrella formation bringing together various strands of existing and new African partnership mechanisms should be established driven by the continent’s common goals.
THEREFORE DIRECTS the NPCA to work with the African Co-Chairs of the APF and NEPAD Steering Committee in engaging potential strategic partner countries to determine their interest and willingness to join a new partnership mechanism with Africa.
URGES the realistic assessment of the impact of a new partnership structure by ascertaining the expected accruing benefits and value addition to Africa to avoid the proliferation of partnership platforms. CALLS FOR the global review process of Africa’s partnerships to be completed as soon as possible.
Concurrent with this, ASSERTS that Africa should pursue the continuation of the G8-Africa Partnership Outreach in its original conception along with the proposed creation of a G20-Africa Outreach through the Development Working Group (DWG) that will be based on the continent’s priorities and the changing global paradigm.
INSTRUCTS NPCA to develop the technical capacity to monitor the implementation of partnership commitments given the challenge of dependence on development partners to track the effective delivery of commitments to Africa.