“Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (2016-2025): From Political commitments to actions on the ground” – 21 September 2017, New York

One of the biggest challenges that many African countries are facing today is that the benefits of economic growth are not shared by all members of society. Even in economies that record impressive rates of growth compared to the rest of the world, poverty, hunger and unemployment persist. Youth, women, rural populations, and the urban poor are particularly affected. This situation can largely be explained by a lack of industrial transformation of African economies.

Cognizant of these circumstances, on 25 July 2016, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution A/RES/70/293, which proclaimed the period 2016-2025 as the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III). The proclamation builds on the understanding that inclusive and sustainable industrialization is essential to generate jobs, wealth and income for all, to eradicate absolute poverty, and thereby to achieve sustainable development. The proclamation also demonstrates the readiness of the international community to continue and enhance its partnership with African countries to support the continent’s industrial transformation.

IDDA III is the latest initiative by the international community in support of Africa’s industrialization. It complements other key development initiatives, such as the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063: The Africa we Want that recognizes the centrality of in­dustria­li­za­tion in driving the continent’s socio-economic structural transformation, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that highlights the need for inclusive and sustainable industrialization in Sustainable Development Goal 9, and several other continental, regional, multilateral and bilateral initiatives, including the Action Plan for the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa, the Africa Mining Vision, the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa, and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.

In order to ensure the successful implementation of IDDA III, we – the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission (AUC), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (UN-OSAA) – as key partners in the implementation of the Decade and conveners of this high-level event:

1. Reaffirm our commitment to support the efforts led by the AU and its member states towards industrialization. In this regard, we reiterate our strong commitment to working hand in hand towards achieving the continent’s development goals, as encapsulated in the AU Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-year Implementation Plan, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on developing infrastructure, advancing innovation and technology transfer, diversifying production, agribusiness value chain development, building production capacity, and quality infrastructure for market access, promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency, promoting an enabling business environment to attract investment, upgrading industrial policy, developing special economic zones and industrial parks, mitigating climate change, and developing institutions and human capital.

2. Recognize the abundance of natural resources and the large African youth population as assets for Africa’s structural transformation and pillars for the continent’s sustainable industrialization. We also recognize the importance to foster inclusiveness, with a special focus on the empowerment of women, youth, rural and urban poor.

3. Recognize that the magnitude of the undertakings under the Decade necessitates a broad-based international partnership. Hence, we declare our commitment towards the development of effective partnership mechanisms and modalities, to guide and facilitate a smooth implementation of the activities of the Decade. We also agree to undertake and implement joint programmes for an increased developmental impact. In addition, we agree to develop appropriate operational modalities for the implementation of IDDA III, including a clear delineation of the roles of implementing partners with agreed time frames.

4. Commend the innovative approach taken by UNIDO in its Programmes for Country Partnership (PCPs) and support the scale up of the PCPs in order to serve more countries in the context of IDDA III. The PCP approach provides a platform for multi-stakeholder partnership for the promotion of inclusive and sustainable industrial development. It builds on partnerships with various stakeholders, including development finance institutions (DFIs) and the private sector, to mobilize large-scale resources and achieve a greater development impact. The implementation of the Industrialize Africa Strategy by the African Development Bank, in collaboration with UNIDO, UN-OSAA and UNECA, could also help to maximize the resource efficiency and impact of IDDA III.

5. Commend the leadership of UNECA in designing and advocating a transformative industrial policy for Africa, and the AfDB for supporting its implementation in partnership with UNIDO, UN-OSAA and UNECA.

6. Acknowledge that the implementation of the ambitious goals of the Decade will require the mo­bili­zation and deployment of a significant amount of resources. The ran­ge of development funders and funding options include, but are not limited to, domestic fiscal resources, public investments, private investments, diaspora remittances, and philanthropic finance. Also, international public finance, including North-South, South-South and Triangular Cooperation, will continue to complement the efforts by African countries in line with international commitments. We encourage bila­teral, regional, sub-regional, multilateral, and other funding institutions to significantly increase their contributions to the development of the industrial sector in Africa. Likewise, we reiterate our call to all financial institutions to ensure full support to the implementation of IDDA III at the country, sub-regional, and continental levels.

7. Recognize the importance of strengthening private sector engagement, in view of public partnerships, with its fundamental role in driving economic growth, creating jobs, generating income and wealth, and contributing to fiscal revenue. Public resources, appropriately and effectively deployed, can mobilize significant private investment that is needed to achieve the aspirations of IDDA III. In this regard, we recognize the critical role of public-private partnerships.

8. Acknowledge that the process of African industrialization must be properly and comprehensively managed. Hence, we commit to devising the necessary governance mechanisms and linking them to existing ones so as to guide the design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of the roadmap for the implementation of the Decade. This is necessary to ensure that development interventions produce the desired impact. It is also necessary to ensure the timely preparation and submission of progress reports to the UNGA on the Decade’s implementation, as directed by Resolution A/RES/70/293.

9. Count on the concerted support of the United Nations System towards the effective mobilization of adequate resources to enable the full implementation of IDDA III.

President of the African Development Bank (AfDB)

Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC)

Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

United Nations Acting Special Adviser on Africa (UN-OSAA)