Marrakech, Morocco, 2 November 2022 - The Sub-Regional Offices for North and West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Government of Morocco launched on Tuesday 1st November, in Marrakech, Morocco, in hybrid format, a joint Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North and West Africa on the theme “Food and energy security in North and West Africa amid multiple crises".
This joint Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts is held in a context where efforts made by North and West African countries to build back their economies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are hampered by elevated and volatile food and energy prices as a result of Ukraine-Russia war.
The session will allow participants to discuss and suggest short and medium-term responses to food-security and energy-security issues in North and West Africa that take the changing regional and global contexts into account.
Participants will also discuss the activity reports and results achieved by the two Subregional Offices, review their future work programmes and refine their strategic directions, as they relate to the development priorities of the North and West African countries.
The opening ceremony of this joint session was chaired by the Secretary General of Arab Maghreb Union, M. Taïeb Baccouche on the presence of Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Directors of the sub regional Offices for North and West Africa, Ngone Diop and Zuzana Brixiova Schwidrowski, the Undersecretary of the Libyan Ministry of Economy and Trade, Chair of the North Africa outgoing Bureau, M. Saad Lihniash Mohamed Abdullah and the Director of Development Planning of the Gambian Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Chair of West Africa outgoing Bureau, M. Alagie Fadera,
In his opening statement, the Secretary General of Arab Maghreb Union, M. Taïeb Baccouche made a summary of the challenges on food and energy insecurity faced by North Africa and the repercussions of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Mr Baccouche also recommended to rekindle the complementarity between the North African States to face these crises.
To diversify food security in North and West Africa, it is key that countries diversify their food import sources by including inter and intra-regional trade: The AfCFTA is providing Africa with an opportunity to produce locally, trade regionally and continentally to sustain food security and support one another, while creating jobs and sustaining development, said Hanan Morsy, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa.
Africa’s future will be more food and energy secure if opportunities created by the AfCFTA and the continent’s increasingly well-educated youths are seized, she added.
The Director of the ECA sub regional Office for West Africa, Ngone Diop said: “Every crisis brings opportunities and we need to identify them and translate them into sustainable, transformational solutions for our economies”.
“We need to focus on building sustainable food production systems supported by responsible investments, reasonable incomes and jobs,” added Zuzana Brixiova Schwidrowski,Director of the ECA sub regional Office for North Africa.
Parallel to this event, the ECA Offices for North and West Africa held a joint Expert group meeting, on the theme “Crisis Resilience and Sustainable Development in North and West Africa”.
This joint meeting was attended by delegates from the 15 West African States and the 7 North African States, as well as senior representatives and experts from Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) of the sub-regions.
For more information, please contact: Tahirou Gouro, Communication Officer, ECA- SRO/ WA Email: gouro2@un.org
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