NEPAD and African Union recently held discussions with a number of United Nations Agencies in New York on Agenda 2063. The Agenda, which was a common theme of discussion during the NEPAD Africa Week at the UN General Assembly, is a fifty-year framework for Africa’s growth and prosperity.

AUC Commissioner for Economic Affairs Mr Mothae Anthony Maruping said that Agenda 2063 is broad enough to allow policy space for national and sub-regional input. He recognised the important work being done by Regional Economic Communities.

“We are in the mood for being nudged and we need our UN partners to keep on nudging us with positive cooperation.” Said Commissioner Maruping.

Mr Antonio Tete, the AU’s Permanent Representative to the UN cited three key targets  with regard to UN/AU cooperation: Peace and Security; Silencing all Guns by 2020 and building a well-equipped and capable AU Security Force. He requested suggestions on qualitative changes that can be introduced by the UN to these three aspects.

                                                                                                       Commissioner Maruping                                                                                              

Ambassador Tete

Ebola was centre-stage. “We cannot speak about Africa without making reference to the Ebola situation in West Africa. It calls for a reactivating of our relations in peace and security, especially that the countries affected were post conflict states,” said Ambassador Tete, adding that the way the three counties tackled the epidemic was more difficult than the manner in which the relatively peaceful Nigeria did.

NEPAD CEO Dr Ibrahim Mayaki called for the UN system to help tackle the multi-sectorial aspect of development. He referred to the current strong cooperation with agencies such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

The meeting heard that in supporting the implementation 2063, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has worked closely with African countries other UN agencies, international and regional organizations and the AUC  in the formulation of The African Maritime Charter; and the 2050 Africa's Integrated Maritime Strategy, also known as 2050 AIM Strategy.

Mr Juvenal Shiundu (above), IMO representative at the meeting said that both these strategies feed into Agenda 2063. He said that with discoveries and expected exploitation of oil and gas in a number of African countries, the volume of cargo through ports is bound to grow. He cautioned that this would put pressure on the development of port and auxiliary infrastructure and maritime security.

The IMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations with responsibility for the safety and security of ships; facilitation of trade and the prevention of pollution from international shipping. It has taken on a leadership role in supporting sustainable maritime development, by setting global safety and environmental standards for international shipping and promoting their uniform implementation across the world.

Recent studies have projected that port throughput in Africa will rise from 265 million tons in 2009 to more than 2 billion tons in 2040.

Photo courtesy of IMO

IMO has been proactive in incorporating AU's maritime related plans such as 2050 AIM Strategy into its Integrated Technical Cooperation a Programme for the Africa region including encouraging African countries to include Agenda 2063 into their national country maritime profiles