Africa Regional Collaborative Platform
Annual Meeting
Draft Opening Remarks
Antonio Pedro
Acting Executive Secretary
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Niamey, 1 March 2023
Deputy Secretary-General;
ASG Ahunna Eziakonwa, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa;
Yacoub El Hilo, Regional DCO Director;
Dear Colleagues,
Good afternoon.
Today we will discuss how to strengthen the RCP to achieve impactful results for Africa.
We hope to have candid conversations on how we can improve our performance in supporting Africa become more prosperous, in line with the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.
Before I touch upon the priorities for 2023, I would like to argue that, more than ever, the fundamentals that informed the Africa Inception Report on the reform of the United Nations Development System in Africa, namely:
-
the recognition of the institutional and political landscape,
-
the need to align our work with the priorities of the African Union in implementing Agendas 2063 and 2030,
-
and the understanding that the pursuit of Africa’s transformation requires well connected actions at the global, continental. Subregional and national layers as part of the same indivisible continuum.
In other words, we require strong horizontal and vertical integration, system-wide coherence, and institutional cohesion in the design and implementation of our activities.
I wish to also recognize the different streams that shaped our vision on the value proposition of an RCP that is transformative in nature and builds the momentum towards the SDG summit and the African Union’s 2063 aspirations. These include
-
The way forward agreed at the Africa RCP annual retreat in Dakar, last November
-
the importance of aligning with AU priorities
-
the need to translate global UN initiatives at the regional level
-
the outcomes of the meeting between the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the AU at the AU-UN Annual meeting of December 2022
-
the key outcomes of the AU extraordinary summit on industrialization and economic diversification last November
-
the AU Heads of State summit of 2023
-
the discussions at the recent meeting of the RCP with RCs
All these have been underpinned by the principles of an “RCP and UNCTs without border” and have shaped the jointly agreed upon thematic priorities that will guide our work in 2023.
These include:
-
Providing dedicated support to UNCTs in designing their Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks while assuring their quality via the Peer Support Group. On-demand requests by UNCTs will also form an essential part of our integrated approach to country level support.
-
Deepening support to member States in improving their data and statistical systems. Working closely with the AU, we will continue building quality and harmonized SDG data ecosystems and a strategy for ONE UN National Statistical Capacity Development Programme.
-
Following up on key global commitments made at the Food Systems and Education Summits and at COP 27. These include issues of carbon markets and energy transition. In doing so, we need to deepen the vertical and horizontal integration of the UNDS to produce the most results.
-
Intensifying efforts towards the implementation of the AfCFTA, the AU the theme of the year. Mainstreaming national AfCFTA strategies in Cooperation Frameworks offers a unique opportunity to promote regional economic integration, private sector development, job creation, economic diversification and sustained economic growth in Africa, via vertical integration of OIBC 2’s efforts into the work of UNCTs.
As we all know, the COVID19 pandemic has reversed many of the hard-won gains on the continent in terms of progress towards the SDGs as well as Agenda 2063.
Nevertheless, we remain committed to supporting economic recovery and achieving sustainable transformation through industrialization and economic diversification, as reaffirmed at the AU Extraordinary Summit in Niamey in November 2022.
Finally, we cannot achieve these priorities without addressing the challenges in the areas of peace and security. The Tangier Declaration of October 2022 clearly states that "without peace, there can be no development". As such, building African capacity for conflict prevention should lead to more integrated development interventions.
The African Union is a strategic partner of the UN, as evidenced in the range of initiatives we have collaborated on over the years, and those planned for the future.
For greater impact and to target better our collective work, we quickly need to identify countries of focus, undertake growth diagnostics profiling and a granular selection of SDG accelerators.
As I said earlier, it is therefore, important to align RCP priorities with those of the AU’s, reconciling both under ‘One Framework, Two Agendas’, as agreed during the 1 December 2022 meeting between the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
I am hopeful that we will be able to respond to the needs of our member States in a more effective way, supporting the structural transformation of the Continent.
Wishing you fruitful deliberations.