Committee of Experts meet in Addis Ababa ahead of the African Finance Ministers Meeting in Ethiopia to Deliberate on Collective goals for Sustainable Development.

The work on implementing Africa’s Development Agenda 2063 has been directed towards helping African countries overcome their continued vulnerabilities and promote diversification in order to accelerate the achievement of structural transformation.

The Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Ambassador of Tanzania to Ethiopia H.E. Naimi Hamza Aziz, said this during the opening session of the Committee of Experts of the 9^th Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 31^st March to 5^th April 2016. The Ministerial segment is to kick start its deliberations on the 3^rd of April 2016.

The Conference under the theme: Towards an Integrated and Coherent Approach to Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs at both experts and Ministerial level, will deliberate on pertinent issues of how countries can harmonise frameworks and establish common mechanisms of implementation, monitoring and evaluation to achieve Africa’s collective goals of sustainable development and transformation.

Moreover, the Conference will among other things, address the question of how African countries can adopt and implement effectively the first Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063, suggest ways for the integration of the said plan at national, regional and continental levels and draw lessons from the ongoing process of domesticating the First –Ten Year implementation plan.

The Conference will also discuss the harmonization of Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda and provide insight as to how an integrated and harmonized approach for the execution of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals can be designed at national level.

“As you know the foundation for Agenda 2063 lies in the fact that, whilst African countries have achieved remarkable growth performance, our success has been limited in achieving structural transformation,” adding that much remains to be done to achieve inclusive and equitable development in Africa and that the continent’s economies were still exposed to vulnerabilities and shocks that could adversely affect growth prospects.

Ambassador Naimi Aziz, who officiated the Conference in her capacity as the outgoing Chair of the Bureau of the Committee of Experts said that, the successful implementation of the continental Agenda 2063 will depend on each member countries’ ability to strongly link their planning, mobilizing and financing mechanisms.

As she handed over the Chair to South Africa, Ambassador Naimi thanked the joint Secretariat of the African Union Commission and the Economic Commission for Africa for successful organization of the conference and for the technical support  which will be provided to the bureau during the course of the meeting.

 The conference is attended by seasoned and high-level panelists from Africa and other regions, representatives from Regional Economic Communities (RECs) UN Agencies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), NEPAD, AfDB and other organizations. It will be interactive so as to give Ministers the opportunities to address the issues elaborated above, discuss and share their views and experiences in the advancement of Africa’s development. 

(From: Tanzania Embassy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1^st April 2016)