DECISION ON THE REPORT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
ORIENTATION COMMITTEE (HSGOC) ON NEPAD
Doc. Assembly/AU/10(XXIV)
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 Thirty Second Session of the HSGOC.
REITERATES that NEPAD represents the inclusive ownership of Africa’s
development programmes which attract international recognition and serves as a robust model of implementation in solving Africa’s multi-dimensional challenges.
APPRECIATES AND ENDORSES the NPCA Results-based Performance Report for January-December 2014 on the status of NEPAD programmes being implemented towards achieving integrated and inclusive impact in the context of reinforcing regional integration. ENCOURAGES the continued sharing of lessons and experiences on NEPAD implementation amongst NPCA, NEPAD National Offices, RECs and partners under the auspices of the NEPAD Coordinating Structures and Focal Points Platform.
SPECIFICALLY NOTES the elaboration of the Malabo CAADP Implementation Strategy and Roadmap (IS&R) to translate the 2025 vision and goals of the Africa Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation into concrete results and impact in response to the Assembly/AU/1 (XXIII) Declaration of June 2014. REQUESTS the NPCA to develop a coherent Programme of Work to operationalize the IS&R and monitor implementation performance based on the CAADP Results Framework, with emphasis on enhanced support to small-holder farmers, women, youth and promoting inclusive agricultural value-chains, preference for regional markets and strengthening natural resources governance.
CALLS ON the NPCA to accord greater importance to Africa’s structural economic transformation by building knowledge and extend technical support to Member States to appropriately put in place robust planning and evidence-based analytical capacity in African institutions to foster spatial inclusion and economic growth.
RECALLS the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.540(XXIII) and WELCOMES the setup of the NEPAD Climate Change Fund as an innovative mechanism to accelerate action in support of Member States to build resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change. FURTHER REQUESTS the NPCA to mobilize new and additional resources towards converting the existing Fund into a MultiPartner Pool Fund.
NOTING the Decision Assembly/AU/2(XXIII) which re-affirmed support for the Abuja Declaration on Agribusiness and Agro-lndustries in Africa, ALSO WELCOMES the Women in Agribusiness Platform convened by the NPCA in Durban, South Africa in October 2014 and URGES the NPCA to support the continued sharing of experiences and the capacity building efforts amongst African women agricultural entrepreneurs.
In implementing the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA): 2014-2024, COMMENDS the programmatic efforts of the NPCA to increase technical support for health research as means of addressing the continent’s health challenges and help in translating the political commitments made by African Leaders into transformative approaches for effective healthcare delivery.
ACCORDINGLY REQUESTS the NPCA in partnership with the African Academy of Sciences to establish and operationalize the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) as a platform to stimulate breakthrough innovations in health to improve the livelihoods of marginalized and stigmatized communities. CALLS UPON Member States, regional and global partners as well as private foundations to support the Alliance in order to strengthen health research and innovation in Africa.
NOTES the contributions of the NPCA to combating the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in collaboration with the AUC and DIRECTS the NPCA to support the acceleration of the evaluation of promising treatment options and vaccine candidates against EVD based on the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) Initiative as a platform for establishing Regional Expert Working Groups on Clinical Trials using Ebola vaccines and other therapies as pathfinder for scaling up regulatory oversight capacity to cover the current and future public health threats.
COMMENDS the efforts of the RECs, NPCA and AUC in partnership with UNDP, UNECA and ACBF under the AU Multi-agency Capacity Development Programme for RECs (M-CDP) to advance coherence and coordination in enhancing results-oriented capacities of RECs towards accelerating regional integration in Africa.
WELCOMES AND ENDORSES the AU RECs Capacity Development Implementation Plan: 2015-2025 based on the NEPAD Capacity Development Strategic Framework (CDSF) resulting from the scoping and capacity needs assessment exercise in the eight (8) AU RECs. REAFFIRMS the important alignment of the Implementation Plan with the RECs Medium Term Strategic Plans, Agenda 2063 and the Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. MANDATES the NPCA, AUC and the RECs in conjunction with the UNDP, UNECA, ACBF and potential M-CDP partners to roll-out the Implementation Plan to realize the institutional effectiveness of RECs and the prompt coherent delivery of regional programmes and projects.
NOTES WITH SATISFACTION the impressive progress recorded under the Dakar Agenda for Action and the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI). GRATEFULLY NOTES the report presented by H.E. Jacob G. ZUMA, President of the Republic of South Africa and the Chairperson of the HSGOC PICI High-Level Sub Committee including the key outcomes of the PICI Ministerial and Technical meetings hosted by the Government of the Republic of South Africa in Pretoria in January 2015.
In the context of PICI, HIGHLIGHTS the successful completion of the East African Community Regional ICT project and the launch of the construction of the missing link of the Trans-Saharan Highway in November 2014. AGREES to include new high-impact energy projects in the PICI portfolio and ADOPTED the manufacturing of rail rolling stock to be championed by the Republic of South Africa to support the deepened drive towards industrialization and the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopian Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor to be championed by H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya.
EQUALLY RECOGNIZES the progress made under the SMART Africa championed by H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda within the framework of PICI and WELCOMES the ONE Africa Network Initiative aimed at reducing the costs of electronic communications within regions and ultimately across the continent. IN THIS RESPECT, RECOMMENDS Member States to adopt and roll-out this initiative in furtherance of Africa’s socio-economic integration.
HIGHLY COMMENDS H.E. Jacob G. ZUMA, President of the Republic of South Africa and Champion Leaders for their firm commitment in promoting PICI projects as well as the NPCA, AUC, AfDB, ECA and RECs for their technical support to the Initiative.
ENDORSES in the context of the Dakar Agenda for Action, the PIDA Implementation Acceleration Strategy (PAS) and the PIDA Service Delivery Mechanism (SDM) developed by the NPCA and AUC in conjunction with AfDB, ECA, RECs to implement the Dakar Agenda for Action, focusing on early infrastructure project preparation and increased bankability of the PIDA Priority Action Plan (PAP): 2020 projects. ALSO NOTES the Infrastructure Skills for Development (IS4D) Initiative to enhance the capacity of the RECs and relevant agencies for the implementation of PIDA projects.
RECALLS the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.540(XXIII) validating the findings of the NEPAD-ECA Study on Domestic Resource Mobilization and the related outcomes of the Dakar Financing Summit. REQUESTS the NPCA, ECA, RECs and relevant organizations to develop a common regional framework for the harmonization of policies, laws and regulations to enhance private sector financing specific to the 16 identified PIDA projects and DIRECTS the NPCA to submit the proposed framework to the HSGOC by January 2016 for consideration.
WELCOMES the finalization of the Africa Power Vision (APV): From vision to action with its Implementation Plan by the NPCA, AUC, UNECA and the Government of Nigeria through the USA Power Africa initiative, as a continental vehicle to advance Africa’s position on increased access to clean, reliable and affordable energy sources and promote national and regional energy impact based on the PIDA PAP. URGES the NPCA to mobilize political support, project bankability, financial closure and overall implementation for the APV prioritized projects.
FURTHER RECALLS the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.540(XXIII) approving the setup of the Africa Global Partnership Platform (AGPP) as the new umbrella formation and SPECIALLY NOTES the demarche through formal invitations to the Heads of State and Government of potential AGPP partner countries under the direction of H.E. Macky SALL, President of the Republic of Senegal and HSGOC Chairperson to advance the effective take-off of the Platform.
APPRECIATES the growing positive response of partner countries for the AGPP and the joint efforts to convene the Platform’s First Plenary Session during 2015. REQUESTS the NPCA in consultation with the NEPAD Steering Committee, to develop a common position on Africa’s outreach in 2015 within the context of the AGPP, based on stronger partnership with Germany and Turkey as the current G7 and G20 chairs, respectively.
IN THIS REGARD COMMENDS the Governments of Senegal, Mauritania and South Africa along with the NEPAD Steering Committee, NPCA CEO and AUC for their committed efforts on the Platform.
ALSO NOTES the main outcomes of the Brisbane G20 Summit in November 2014 and the Africa-NEPAD Week during the 69th UN General Assembly in October 2014, WHILE REAFFIRMING the renewed commitment to the shared principles of equality, transparency, mutual accountability and African ownership in promoting meaningful partnerships to realize the continent’s development goals.
WELCOMES the finalization of the NPCA Stakeholders and Partnership Strategy as an institutional framework to guide partnership building and resource mobilization for NEPAD programmes. APPROVES the NEPAD Goodwill Ambassadors initiative as an integral part of the Strategy and NOTES the collaboration between the NPCA and Mo Ibrahim Foundation (MIF) on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (HAG) ALSO REFERS to the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.508(XXII) and URGES the NPCA to expedite the monitoring and evaluation of Africa’s major partnerships and report to the HSGOC in due course.
IN RECALLING the Rules of Procedure of the NEPAD governance structures adopted by Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.442(XIX), REITERATES the critical need to continue to promote inclusiveness and national ownership within the NEPAD process to fast-track the implementation of NEPAD by Member States.
In line with the said Rules of Procedure and after due consultations by the HSGOC Leaders, ENDORSES the re-election of H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal as HSGOC Chairperson, and H.E. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and H.E. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President of the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Algeria as Vice Chairpersons for the second term of two (2) years.
FURTHER ENDORSES the membership of the five (5) initiating countries and the re-election of the 15 rotating HSGOC members by the 32nd HSGOC Session as follows:
Central Africa | East Africa | North Africa | Southern Africa | West Africa |
CAMEROON | ETHIOPIA | ALGERIA | SOUTH AFRICA | NIGERIA |
CHAD | RWANDA | EGYPT | MALAWI | SENEGAL |
CONGO (Republic) | TANZANIA | LIBYA | ZAMBIA | BENIN |
GABON | UGANDA | MAURITANIA | ZIMBABWE | MALI |
a. Note: *SUDAN inclusive
CONGRATULATES the re-elected HSGOC Chairperson, Vice Chairpersons and the Member States for their consistent political support and commitment in spearheading the strategic orientation towards consolidating the implementation of NEPAD.
IN GENERAL EXTOLS the enriched quality of the technical work of the NPCA under the leadership of the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki.