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Briefings
- Briefing on NEPAD by Prof. Firmino Mucavele, Executive Director,
NEPAD Secretriat---The Office of the Special Adviser on Africa
organized a briefing
on the progress in the implementation of NEPAD by Mr. Mucavele on 17 September 2007.
Members of Permanent and Observer Missions, officials of the United
Nations, the media and representatives of accredited non governmental
organizations, among others, attended the briefing which was chaired
by Mr. Patrick Hayford, Director and Officer-in-Charge, Office of
the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA).
- TICAD Steering Committee Meeting in preparation for TICAD
IV---The Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, in collaboration
with the Japanese Mission to the UN organized a TICAD Steering Committee
meeting at the margins of the 62nd Session of the General Assembly.
The meeting was held on 1-2 October 2007 at the Japanese Mission
in New York. The theme of TICAD IV is “Towards a Vibrant
Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity”. The objectives
of TICAD IV are to boost economic growth in Africa; to strengthen
support for the already self sustaining and strong economic growth
in Africa; and to ensure “human security” by assisting
to help achieve MDGs and consolidate peace and security in Africa.
Finally, TICAD IV will address environmental issues and climate change
affecting the African continent.
- Briefing on China-Africa Relations by Ambassador LIU Guijin,
China's Special Representative on African Affairs--- The
Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA), in collaboration with
the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
organized a briefing
on China-Africa relations on 10 September 2007
at United Nations Headquarters. The briefing touched
extensively on the salient issues affecting China-Africa’s relations
and highlighted specific areas requiring further concrete engagement
by the two sides in support of Africa’s peace, security and
development objectives. The briefing given by Ambassador LIU Zhenmin,
Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the People’s
Republic of China, was done as a follow-up to the 2006 Beijing summit
held by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Panel Discussions and Expert Group Meetings
- Expert Group Meeting-"The Private Sector Institutional
Response to NEPAD: A Review of Current Experience and Practices"---The
Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) organized an Expert
Group Meeting from 6-7 November 2007. The expert group meeting was
a complementary to the one that was organized in 2005 to discuss a
study on “The Contribution of the Private Sector to the Implementation
of NEPAD”. The study was based on the fact that since its inception,
NEPAD had emphasized the central role of the private sector in contributing
to economic growth and future development of Africa. As a major stakeholder
in Africa’s development and a potential engine of growth, the
private sector should play an instrumental role in the successful
implementation of NEPAD projects and programmes.
- Expert Group Meeting-“Promoting International Partnerships
in Support of African Peer Review Mechanism implementation”
--- The Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) organized
an Expert Group Meeting from 8-9 November 2007. The objectives of
the EGM were to provide a forum for the sharing of experiences and
best practices by countries which had undertaken the peer review;
to identify ways in which the international community, including the
donor community and the UN system, could best contribute to the APRM
process; and to contribute to increased collaboration of UN system
partners in support of Africa’s development. The Expert Group
Meeting discussed the impact of the African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM) process of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) on strengthening governance and development prospects in participating
countries, as well as the role of the international community in supporting
the implementation process. The main outcome of the meeting culminated
in the formulation of a set of recommendations in support of the APRM
process.
- The Secretary-General's Advisory Panel on International Support
for NEPAD (SAPIS-NEPAD) met on 22-24 May 2006, in New York, to discuss
their supplementary report on progress made since their first report
entitled- From Rhetoric to Action:
Mobilizing International support to Unleash Africa's Potential.
The theme of the second report entitled- From
Commitments to Results: Moving foward NEPAD Implementation - reflects the recognition of the progress made since last year but
also underlines the importance of undertaking policy measures to accelerate
the implementation of NEPAD. The contents of the report include: NEPAD
and international support; Building on the Momentum of International
Commitments; Regional Measures for Reinforcing International Support;
The Salience of Enhanced UN Support for NEPAD; Monitoring of Implementation;
and finally, some Recommendations.
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Report
on the Panel Discussion on Multi-Stakeholders’ Perspectives on
the Implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD): Four Years After, March 2006 (Panelists reports can be
viewed from the Reports and Publications site). A panel discussion on “Multi-Stakeholders’
Perspectives on the Implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD): Four Years After” was held on 13 October
2005 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The panel discussion
was organized by the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA)
to coincide with the joint debate of the General Assembly on African
issues. The main objective of the panel discussion was to allow participants
of diverse professional background, expertise and policy experience
to share their perspectives on the challenges and actions needed to
advance the implementation of NEPAD, with a view to deepen the process
of involvement and commitment by all stakeholders.
- International
Conference on DDR and Stability in Africa--The Office
of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) organized a follow-up
conference to the International Conference on DDR and Stability in
Africa held in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 21 to 23 June 2005. The
conference built on the achievement of the Freetown Conference
and focused on the African-owned processes to enhance effective policy
formulation and strategy implementation in African DDR programmes
through sharing practical experiences of African countries themselves,
as well as their international partners. The Conference included
in-depth discussions on combatants on foreign soil, child soldiers, DDR and SSR, and Transitional justice. The meeting was held
in Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo, on 12-14 June 2007.
- Natural
resources and Conflict in Africa: Transforming a Peace Liability into
a Peace Asset- The United Nations Office of the Special
Adviser on Africa (OSAA) convened an Expert Group Meeting on “Natural
Resources and Conflict in Africa: Transforming a Peace Liability into
a Peace Asset” in Cairo, Egypt from 17 to 19 June 2006, in cooperation
with the Government of Egypt, to address the key issue of improving
governance of natural resource management in post-conflict countries
in Africa. The meeting received financial support from the Government
of Sweden and from the United Nations Development Programme. The meeting
was convened in keeping with the mission of the Office of the Special
Adviser on Africa to promote international support for durable peace
and sustainable development in Africa, including through advocacy
and through facilitating inter-governmental deliberations on critical
issues affecting Africa, in particular on the related issues of peace
and development. It also forms part of OSAA’s support to the
programme activities of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD), as mandated, which include as priorities, work on peace and
security and good governance.
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