NEPAD showcases progress on policy reforms…next decade to focus on implementation…

New York – African diplomats and representatives of the civil society at United Nations yesterday paid tribute to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) for its achievements over the past ten years in creating policy reforms for the continent’s development.

Speaking at a special briefing to the African Group as part of activities in New York to commemorate NEPAD’s tenth anniversary, Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, explained that NEPAD had played a crucial part in the steady progress that was being made by the continent both in terms of democratisation and development.

“The African leaders set up the African Peer Review Mechanism to advance good governance and democracy,” he told Africa diplomats. The peer review mechanism is Africa’s unique and innovative approach to governance. Its reports serve as early warning system of impeding threats to peace and stability in Africa. So far, 30 African countries have signed up for the review and 14 of them have completed the process. The mechanism has been one of the NEPAD Agency’s most successful programmes in encouraging democratization among members. For example, its reports anticipated the violence that followed the 2007 elections in Kenya and the 2008 xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Another NEPAD Agency success story is the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a continent-wide initiative to encourage African countries to increase investments in agriculture. Signatories to CAADP are required to increase spending on agriculture to at least 10 per cent of their national budgets. About 27 countries have so far signed agreements committing their governments to the 10 per cent target.

In his briefing, Under-Secretary General and Special Adviser on Africa Cheikh Sidi Diarra called on developed nations to give Africa access to open international markets for its exports, reduce or write-off their debts and complete the Doha talks on trade. He also urged African countries to increase domestic savings and lessen their dependence on foreign aid.

In a statement read at the briefing, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Abdoulie Janneh, reminded the gathering that it was through NEPAD that issues of peace and security were brought to the fore as a pre-condition to development and that the focus on governance issues could not be divorced from the current successes of the continent.

Participants at the briefing called upon the NEPAD Agency to focus the next decade on implementation, on improving Africa’s global standing and on improving the linkages with the continent’s regional economic communities.

In February 2010, NEPAD was officially incorporated into the African Union formal structures with the creation of the NEPAD Agency.

The special briefing is part of a series of high-level meetings and events designed to foster debates and generate ideas for improvements in implementing NEPAD projects.