Senior government officials from Mauritius convened on 20th May to prepare a comprehensive and country-driven assessment of Mauritius’s progress in realising Agenda 2063, the continent’s blueprint for inclusive growth and sustainable development.

The two-day workshop organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) is part of a series of country and regional trainings to develop the Second Continental Progress Report on Agenda 2063 to be presented at the 36th African Union Heads of State and Government Summit in February 2022.

The Report is an innovative mechanism to track implementation of the fifty-year roadmap, highlighting areas where progress has been made and areas where challenges remain.

“It serves as important reference points for collective review, reflection, peer learning and mutual accountability among Member States and RECs on the implementation of Africa’s development blueprint,” said Mr Martin Bwalya, Ag Director Knowledge Management and Programme Evaluation on behalf of AUDA-NEPAD CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki. “As the technical agency and development anchor for the continent, our mandate includes collaborating with and supporting Member States to review progress and performance of development programmes. AUDA-NEPAD treasures the cordial relations that we enjoy with the Republic of Mauritius and are proud to offer technical support in advancing the implementation of Africa’s Agenda 2063”, he said.

In his opening remarks, Hon. Alan Ganoo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade of the Republic of Mauritius, highlighted: “Agenda 2063 has today gained even more relevance in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, greater solidarity among all AU Member States is required to overcome the challenges resulting from the pandemic. The Agenda 2063 has laid the foundation and provides us the necessary framework for the post COVID-19 recovery. One particular example is the huge opportunities that the African Continental Free Trade Area provides to us all.”

Hon Ganoo further underscored Mauritius’s readiness to prepare the empirical progress report on the implementation of the Agenda 2063 with the technical support of the AU Commission and AUDA-NEPAD. “It is our firm intention to join other Member States to be part and parcel of the second continental biennial performance report on the implementation of Agenda 2063. We further aim to gear our efforts towards deepening domestication and mainstreaming the continental development agenda to drive our national policies and priorities,” he said.

“To that end, Mauritius relies on the knowledge-based support of the Commission and AUDA-NEPAD to strengthen our capacity in data collection, data analysis and reporting of the Agenda 2063”, Hon. Ganoo said.

Similarly, the sharing of best practices will play a key role in promoting peer learning in our collective efforts to address numerous critical challenges with a view to accelerating the implementation of the Agenda 2063.

The continental report is based on an empirical methodology developed by AUC and AUDA-NEPAD and approved by African leaders to assess performance in all the 20 goals of Agenda 2063 First Ten Year Implementation Plan framed around wealth creation, shared prosperity, transformed capacities, and environmental sustainability.

The training will be upscaled to all regions in the continent as part of the preparations of the second continental report that will be presented by Agenda 2063 Champion H.E. Alassane Ouattara, President of Côte d'Ivoire, at the AU Summit in February 2022.