Assisting Member States in Africa to reinforce promising trends and overcome the obstacles to accelerated growth and socio-economic development has defined the analytical, advocacy and advisory work of ECA under its Executive Secretary, Mr. K. Y. Amoako. This provided the backdrop to the thirtieth session of the Commission, held from 24 April to 3 May 1995, the theme of which was "promoting accelerated growth and sustainable development in Africa through the building of critical capacities". At that session the Commission reviewed progress in the elaboration of the Framework Agenda for Building and Utilizing Critical Capacities in Africa and directed that the Framework Agenda be completed before the next session, in 1996.
The session also adopted a declaration on external debt of African countries which called for improvement in the Naples Terms, including an 80 per cent reduction in the total non-concessional debt of African countries, and urged the cancellation of concessional debt rescheduled in the Paris Club. It adopted a special memorandum on the mid-term global review of the implementation of the Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries for the 1990s scheduled for September 1995. The session noted with satisfaction the commitment of African countries to carry out necessary reforms to attract private investment, and invited all African countries and their development partners to participate in the regional forum on private investment which will be held in early 1996 at Accra.
At the same session the Commission strongly endorsed the need to promote food security and self-sufficiency in Africa. In this regard, the Commission called on Member States to create a macroeconomic environment conducive to the development of the food and agricultural sector and requested relevant United Nations agencies to strengthen programmes designed to promote food security and self-sufficiency in Africa.
With the coming into force in May 1994 of the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community, the Commission intensified its efforts in support of the implementation of the Treaty. Together with the Organization of African Unity and the African Development Bank -- its partners in a Joint Secretariat -- the Commission participated in setting up a committee to formulate proposals for resource mobilization in support of the African Economic Community and formulating a framework for a working relationship between the subregional economic communities and the Joint Secretariat. Furthermore, the Commission undertook studies on the rationalization and harmonization of regional economic groups in West and Central Africa in the context of the establishment of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the Central African Economic and Monetary Union.
The Second United Nations Transport and Communications Decade for Africa aims at facilitating development of transport and communications in Africa. A mid-term evaluation report of the Decade programme was examined by the Tenth Meeting of African Ministers of Transport and Communications held in May 1995. The main recommendations from the evaluation were that the programmes should be streamlined, resource mobilization efforts for Decade projects should be intensified and the beneficiaries of the Decade programme should assume ownership. The Commission implemented four important projects in the transport and communication sectors: human resource and institution development in transport and communications; a transport database; the reactivation of the Trans-African Highway Bureau; and the Yamoussoukro Declaration on a new air transport policy for Africa.
With a view to assisting Member States in formulating policies and strategies for sustainable development of natural resources, the Commission published a document entitled "Policies and strategies for the development and utilization of natural resources and energy in Africa". The Commission also organized, in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization, an international conference entitled "Water Resources: Policy and Assessment", held at Addis Ababa from 20 to 25 March 1995. The Conference articulated a strategy to rehabilitate, build or adopt the institutional financial manpower and technological capacity of countries to assess water resources needs for socio-economic development.
In response to the decisions of Member States expressed at the Regional Ministerial Conference on Development and Utilization of Mineral Resources in Africa, the Commission undertook two studies on prospects for increased production and intra-African trade in copper and copper-based products and prospects for increased production and intra-African trade in aluminium commodities and metal products. The studies have been well received by Governments, private companies and entrepreneurs, as well as regional and subregional organizations.
The Commission continued its efforts to promote the development of scientific and technological capacities. It thus conducted studies on incentives for development and the application of science and technology, indicators for science and technology in Africa and foreign direct investment as a vehicle for science and technology development. Furthermore, the Commission, in collaboration with OAU, organized a round table on the science and technology protocol of the African Economic Community from 21 to 27 September 1994.
In the context of the implementation of the Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa, the Commission assisted Member States in the formulation of appropriate industrial policies and effective implementation of industrial programmes. The twelfth meeting of the Conference of African Ministers of Industry at Gaborone in June 1995 examined, among other things, the progress made by African countries in the implementation of their national and subregional programmes for the Decade and the role of the private sector in the implementation of the goals of the Decade.
The Commission has launched a new series entitled the Human Development in Africa Report. The 1995 edition of the report was devoted to the themes of "Goals of the child", "Health for all" and "Basic education for all". The Commission has intensified its activities in assistance to Member States in integrating population development factors into socio-economic development programmes and policies; preparation of studies and/or workshops on family planning and reproductive health, fertility and mortality; and the implementation of the Dakar/Ngor Declaration on Population, Family and Sustainable Development and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.
The sixteenth meeting of the African Regional Coordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development was held from 20 to 22 April 1995 at Addis Ababa. It endorsed the African Platform for Action for Women adopted at the Fifth African Regional Conference on Women held at Dakar in November 1994. The African Platform for Action is the region's common position for the Fourth World Conference on Women. At the same time, the Commission continued its efforts related to the establishment of an African women's bank by convening an Ad Hoc Group Meeting in August 1994 to examine the feasibility of the creation of the bank. Entrepreneurs from some African countries have indicated their willingness to promote the bank. At its 1995 session, the Conference of Ministers requested further studies to clarify certain issues concerning the establishment of the bank. The Commission's operational role in the advancement of women was matched by the deepening of its analytical work on women's issues in Africa. For example, the Commission's Economic and Social Survey of Africa 1995 features a special study on gender disparities in formal education in Africa.
The Commission, in collaboration with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), UNCTAD and OAU, organized in Tunisia in October 1994 the International Conference to Assess the Impact of the Uruguay Round on African Economies. The aim of this Conference was to evaluate the technical requirements of African countries in adapting to the post-Uruguay Round international trade environment.
During the period from December 1994 to June 1995, the Commission fielded over 65 short-term technical advisory missions. The main institutional vehicle for providing these advisory services is the ECA Multidisciplinary Regional Advisory Group. ECA rendered assistance to some Member States in the area of environmental management. It fielded advisory missions to Eritrea on protection of the marine environment and to Seychelles on water and environment. The Commission collaborated with UNEP in the preparation of studies on the contribution of the coastal/marine sector to the gross national product in the Gambia and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Commission has provided assistance to Member States in areas of public sector management, including development of indicators for public enterprise performance; strengthening of national statistical institutions; establishing information management systems; and agricultural management and policy planning. In Eritrea, for example, ECA has provided technical assistance for public enterprise reform and management, and assisted in establishing a national development information system and network linking various departments of the Government. In Angola, ECA is evaluating the development priority areas to form the basis of a policy framework for its technical assistance to the country's socio-economic development.
Reflecting the diversity of requests for its support, the Multidisciplinary Regional Advisory Group also provided technical assistance to universities or institutes in some Member States. These included the Institute for Diplomacy and International Studies at the University of Nairobi, the International Relations Institute of Cameroon and the University of Ghana, Legon. Technical assistance to these institutions included short-term training and assistance in the establishment of new centres within these institutions. Advisory services were also rendered to intergovernmental, regional and subregional organizations and institutions. These included the subregional economic groupings, the ECA-sponsored institutions, the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development and the Semi-Arid Food Grain Research and Development Centre. During the period under review, the Commission had a total of 115 projects, of which 44 were terminated and 71 remained under implementation. A total amount of $5,606,603 was made available to the Commission under extrabudgetary resources for the implementation of the projects.
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