Speakers praised the African Union’s ambitious 50-year “Agenda 2063”, which together with its first 10-year implementation plan, the Addis Ababa funding scheme, and the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, was a holistic and coherent framework for advancing and following up on Africa’s development, the General Assembly heard on 16 October 2015 as it took up the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Mogens Lykketoft (Denmark), President of the General Assembly, said that from infrastructure development projects to agriculture and food security, commitment to health and primary education and human capital development, African States were demonstrating their resolve to fully implement that development blueprint.

As NEPAD’s flagship governance programme, the African Peer Review Mechanism, should be joined by all remaining African States, said the representative of Sierra Leone, speaking on behalf of the African Group. Thirty-six countries on the continent had voluntarily adhered to the Review Mechanism, and half of them had been reviewed already by their peers.

Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, NEPAD’s Chief Executive Officer, agreed, calling the Review Mechanism the “epicentre for deepening democracy” and the dissemination of best practices of African Union Member States.

South Africa’s representative, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said there was a need for developed countries to fulfil commitments related to official development assistance (ODA), and also to provide genuine debt relief to least developed countries.

Several speakers discussed their economic and trade partnerships with Africa. India’s representative, for its part, focused his statement on private-sector investments, noting that Indian companies’ growing investment in Africa now reached $30 to $35 billion in many sectors. Over the last decade, India’s Government had approved nearly $9 billion in concessional credit for nearly 140 projects in more than 40 African countries and nearly 60 projects had been completed.

Japan’s approach to economic issues facing the African continent was expressed through its regularly-held Tokyo International Conference on African Development, a partnership conference which focused on preserving and enhancing African ownership, and the agenda and programmes of the meeting were decided by listening to the voices of all African States, its delegate said.

Africa also needed foreign direct investment to maintain rapid economic growth, the delegate of Poland noted. He cited Poland’s technological support for modern agriculture and fisheries in Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria, the United Republic of Tanzania and Togo, and the “Go Africa” joint economic initiative of Polish and African companies to build business partnerships and encourage trade and people-to-people contacts.

But, cautioned the delegation of Libya, with respect to the issue of peace and security in Africa, many on the continent were suffering from a deteriorating security situation, his country among them. There could be no development without security and vice versa.

Indeed, the most important prerequisite for Africa’s sustainable development was conflict prevention and resolution, the Russian Federation’s representative said in his statement. African countries should not be dictated to on how they should solve their own problems. The Security Council had an important role in Africa’s peace and stability, but Africans should solve their problems themselves as they were the most informed of conditions on the ground.

“African problems should be solved by Africa in an African way,” concurred the Chinese delegate, calling also for stronger cooperation with the African Union.

Security issues were also on the mind of the representative of the European Union, who mentioned the migration issue in his statement. More needed to be done to address the root causes that prompted migrants to leave their homes and families, agreed the delegation of Italy, a country on the forefront of the migration crisis currently affecting Europe.

Delegates also discussed progress on implementing the 2001-2010: Decade to Roll Back Malaria in Developing Countries, Particularly in Africa.

The United States’ representative noted that its investments in malaria prevention and control were positively impacting the lives of millions of children, pregnant women and families in Africa.

For its part, Zambia’s instituted preventive measures included three key steps – improving surveillance and reporting at health facility level; implementing mass screening and treatment campaigns; and using an active case detection system for community-level surveillance, according its representative. Thailand’s delegate also focused on malaria issues, noting that his country stood ready to share its strategies that led to a significant reduction in the number of malaria cases and the malaria-related deaths.

Also speaking on Friday were the representatives of Brunei Darussalam (on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations), Algeria, Ethiopia, Thailand, Uganda, Sweden, Jamaica (on behalf of the Caribbean Community), Egypt, Rwanda, Kazakhstan, Norway, Turkey, Nigeria and Israel.

The General Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 19 to hold a joint debate on integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields.

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Statements

MOGENS LYKKETOFT (Denmark), President of the General Assembly, said that in 2015, the international community had witnessed the adoption of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and its first 10-year implementation plan, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Those agendas brought together global, continental, regional and national plans into one holistic and coherent framework for advancing and following up on Africa’s development. Today’s debate was an attempt to reflect on the international community’s collective efforts to partner with Africa and support the continent in its efforts to tackle challenges and maximize opportunities in the areas of peace and security, human rights and sustainable development.

Significant challenges remained, and those relating to malaria were linked to broader development challenges on the continent, he said. Progress in the implementation of NEPAD was therefore appropriate to consider today. From infrastructure development projects to agriculture and food security, commitment to health and primary education and human capital development, African States were demonstrating their resolve to fully implement that development blueprint. Commending the work of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, he added that as a new chapter in international cooperation began, the international community had to work together to complete the Millennium Development Goals and lay the foundations for peace, prosperity and sustainable development across the African continent.

RAYMOND THULANE NYEMBE (South Africa), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said that the main constraint facing Africa today was the lack of adequate resources. Challenges the continent continued to contend with included rising inequality, and those challenges needed global coordination and partnership to be adequately dealt with. Africa required more support in its development path. The Group of 77 was encouraged by the importance placed by Member States on the African Union Agenda 2063. There was a need for developed countries to fulfil commitments related to official development assistance (ODA), he said, and also to provide genuine debt relief to least developed countries. South-South cooperation and the private sector were complements rather than substitutes.

Expressing appreciation to all delegations for their constructive approach, he said there was an urgent need to continue developing African Union and institutional capacities, particularly in countries emerging from conflict. Ways to address emerging issues like terrorism must be found, and the commitment towards that goal by Member States was encouraging. Over the past 15 years, the world had seen tremendous progress on malaria control and prevention. Nine countries were on track to reduce malaria incidence by 77 per cent. Those results meant that child deaths had been averted in Africa. But many nations still faced challenges in rolling back malaria. There was a persistent need for the United Nations system, thereunder the World Health Organization (WHO), to address weak health systems.

EBUN STRASSER-KING (Sierra Leone), speaking on behalf of the African Group and aligning herself with the Group of 77, noted that 2015 was a pivotal year in Africa’s development, given the adoption of Agenda 2063. She commended the United Nations monitoring mechanism’s contribution to Africa’s development, and underscored the need for adequate and regular resources from the Organization’s regular budget to implement the United Nations-African Union Partnership on Africa’s Integration and Development Agenda. Agriculture remained at the heart of the continent’s development agenda. In that regard, African Governments sought to sustain the momentum of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Programme over the next decade, including by increasing financial investment in agriculture through domestic resource mobilization, and ending hunger and halving poverty by 2025 through inclusive agricultural growth. Turning to the African Peer Review Mechanism, NEPAD’s flagship governance programme, she encouraged all remaining African States to join the 36 countries on the continent that had voluntarily adhered to the Review Mechanism. Half of those 36 countries had been reviewed already by their peers.

Turning to security issues, she said that the continent was committed to addressing the root causes of conflict, including through the African Peace and Security Architecture. There could be no lasting security without inclusive development. In that regard, it was imperative that all partners, including the United Nations system, should support the “African Union Silencing the Guns by 2020” initiative. On health, she said that malaria remained a serious health concern and expressed concern that funding to fight it was inadequate to reach universal coverage of interventions. Developed countries and other partners must fulfil their commitments towards its eradication. Although the Ebola virus was largely under control, there was an urgent need to help African countries, especially those most affected by the deadly disease, to improve their health systems.

IBRAHIM ASSANE MAYAKI, Chief Executive Officer, NEPAD, said that NEPAD was central to the continent’s transformation and its role was ever more critical in the context of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Underscoring the importance of gender in Agenda 2063, he said that it was one of the most effective drivers of inclusive growth and the reduction of poverty. The NEPAD-Spanish Fund for African Women’s Empowerment had benefitted over half a million women since its inception in 2007. As Africa was the least integrated continent in the world, infrastructure development was a top priority. Bridging the infrastructure gap was vital for economic advancement and sustainable development and could only be achieved through regional and continental cooperation.

Turning to corruption, he said that the Report of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa stated that the continent lost $50 billion through such flows. To implement the Report’s recommendations, NEPAD organized the first ever regional dialogue on capacity-building for tax and mining administration officers in the West and Central Africa region. The programme, designed for senior government officials, would contribute to improving tax policy design and better contract negotiation for extractive industries. NEPAD was fully involved in advancing the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals and helping African countries meet their targets. It was important to maintain “coherence and alignment” of the 2030 Agenda with the Agenda 2063 and its 10-year implementation plan. Underscoring that the African Peer Review Mechanism was the “epicentre for deepening democracy” and the dissemination of best practices of African Union member States, he said that 35 members had voluntarily joined the Mechanism, 17 countries had been peer reviewed and a second-cycle review process was in the pipeline.

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Annual Briefing to United Nations Member States and Entities

Reports of the Secretary-General, Discussions by the Economic Commision for Africa (ECA), and Presentations by the NEPAD Agency and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)

This year’s annual briefing to Member States and UN System entities on 15 October featured two segments, co-chaired by H.E. Mr. Téte António, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, and Ms. Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. 

In the first segment, Mr. Maged Abdelaziz, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, presented two reports of the UN Secretary-General, namely the:

• “New Partnership for Africa’s Development: thirteenth consolidated progress report on implementation and international support,” and

• “Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.”

This presentation of OSAA’s mandated reports is aimed at raising awareness of and sharing in-depth analysis and policy recommendations concerning emerging issues related to development, peace, security and governance in Africa.

The second segment featured thematic presentations by:

• H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO of the NEPAD Agency and Interim CEO of the APRM Secretariat, on “The Key Role of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development in Implementing Agenda 2063”, and

• H.E. Dr. Mustapha Mekideche, Chairperson of the African Peer Review Panel of Eminent Persons, on “The Role of the African Peer Review Mechanism in the Monitoring of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

This segment aimed to  provide a platform for Member States and UN System entities to gain insights from key entities in the implementation of Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan.