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‘Resources, technology and capacity’ key to success of new global development agenda, UN Secretary-General tells World Economic Forum
Below are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the “Making 2015 a Historic Year” dinner, in Davos, Switzerland, on 23 January.
Thank you for joining us tonight, as we look ahead to what I believe must become a historic year for humanity. People and organizations all over the world are demanding our leadership and global action in 2015 on sustainable development and climate change.
The path ahead includes three milestones: the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July, the adoption of a post-2015 global development agenda by world leaders in September and global climate change negotiations in Paris in December. Success at each stop will be essential if we are to achieve lives of dignity for all.
We have come a long way in designing a shared vision for the future. The UN’s Member States have consulted with civil society and the private sector. Through the web-based MY World survey, more than 7 million people have given us their views. Never before have we engaged in such a broad global dialogue on key matters of concern to all humankind.
An open working group of the UN General Assembly has taken this rich catalogue of ideas and perspectives and distilled it into a proposed set of 17 sustainable development goals. The SDGs [sustainable development goals] will seek to end extreme poverty, protect the planet, address inequality and build on the gains made under the Millennium Development Goals. The new slate of goals also ventures into areas not addressed by the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals], but which are now recognized as vital parts of the picture – including institutions, energy and the threat of climate change. They also reflect the deepening of our understanding about the links between peace and development.
In the coming months, Member States will work to craft a coherent and ambitious agenda for adoption by Heads of State and Government in September.
Climate change and sustainable development are two sides of the same coin. All of the actions and investments to be undertaken under the climate agenda will help advance the SDGs. A successful financing conference will be crucial. The new global development agenda will only succeed if the resources, technology and capacity are available. Business has an enormous role to play.
It was here in Davos, over 15 years ago, that the United Nations introduced the notion of a global compact between business and society. What started as a sensible proposal to the business community has become a proven strategy. Our shared efforts have shown that when you engage business and all key players on issues of common importance, we can make tangible progress.
Across the United Nations, our Organization is working in partnership with business on a daily basis. Our global platforms for action include Caring for Climate, “Every Woman, Every Child”, Sustainable Energy for All, the Women’s Empowerment Principles and Business for Peace.
Business is proving its willingness to be part of the solution to tackling our world’s greatest challenges. To the business leaders here tonight who are already working hard within your companies to promote responsible business practices, and who are collaborating with others to realize a more sustainable future, I say thank you. To all of you, I ask for your help in the making 2015 a historic year. Four steps are especially important.
First, we need to hear your voices. Companies must continue to engage in dialogue with Governments and other partners on defining and then rolling out the SDGs. Your communication and advocacy machinery can have a powerful and multiplying effect.
Second, we need companies to gear up for implementation of the SDGs. Scalable partnership models aligned with the goals will be essential. But, significant progress will result only when companies go further, and integrate the goals into business strategies, research and development and new product development. I am pleased that the UN Global Compact, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and the Global Reporting Initiative are collaborating on a project to help companies set specific and time-bound goals.
Third, we need the private sector to help mobilize financing. I appeal to investors to participate in the Addis conference, which will showcase a wealth of opportunities. Join us in strengthening the global partnership for development.
Fourth, we need business to help reach a universal, meaningful agreement on climate action in Paris. Private sector advocacy can make a real difference in advancing well-functioning carbon markets, smart regulatory policies and emissions reduction targets that are in line with science. Our “Caring for Climate” initiative has an active agenda in each of these areas, and I encourage you to help support these efforts.
I understand very well that this remains a challenging time for the business community. At the same time, new technologies and changing demographics are creating new opportunities. Mindsets are also on the move. The public good – as expressed in the SDGs – is no longer the add-on it might once have been. Today, the public good is now an essential, profitable ingredient of new business models.
The world needs companies and investors everywhere to do their part in meeting the needs of people today while transforming our prospects for tomorrow.
We continue to face serious threats to peace and security. Problems can seem daunting. But, I am convinced this remains, above all, an era of opportunity. The entrepreneurs I have met across the world continue to innovate – and inspire others to do the same.
Let us be ambitious and let us work together. I look to each of you to help us make 2015 the year of global action.
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SD needs to invest in building capacity for stakeholders on competition
Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce (FSE&CC) Chief Executive Officer Bonisiwe Ntando says the country still needs to invest in building capacity of all stakeholders on issues of competition.
She said such capacity building should be geared towards raising awareness on competition law and the work of the Swaziland Competition Commission (SCC).
Ntando said competition is healthy for any economy as it contributed to businesses efficiencies which are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices, amongst other benefits.
“Competition also encourages companies to continuously innovate so that they can stay ahead of the competition and offer products and services that cater for the needs of consumer and the target market. It is important to note that the basis of Competition Law – the Competition Act 2007 in the case of Swaziland is to keep monopolies in check, taking into account that the existence of monopolies is not necessarily the issue.
The problem lies with monopolies that abuse their dominance in markets,” she said. The CEO said therefore, the introduction of competition law and the establishment of the SCC was therefore a step in the right direction for Swaziland.
She said the changes are already being witnessed as evidenced by recent announcements from the Commission itself.
“However, it should be noted that the country still needs to invest in building capacity of all stakeholders on issues of competition. Such capacity building should be geared towards raising awareness on competition law and the work of the Commission. Through awareness sessions, the business community for instance will be in a position to know the importance of notifying the Competition Commission each time there are mergers or acquisitions or the sale of shares within their companies,” she said.
Ntando said most importantly, businesses would also be aware of the power of the Commission to reverse such transactions in situations where it has not been appropriately notified and also where negative impact to the economy are quite evident.
Adding, she said the role of COMESA has been to assist in building regional capacity when it comes to competition issues.
“We believe that the Swaziland Competition Commission and other stakeholders, including the media, have benefitted tremendously from the COMESA capacity building initiatives. Furthermore, the involvement of COMESA has also sensitised businesses in Swaziland to understand and frame issues of competition to be aligned to the regional context,” she said.
Ntando said through the Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM) under COMESA, Swaziland reports the progress it has made on competition issues, amongst other issues.
Furthermore, she said the country could request for support in its efforts to promote what is required of the country under Competition Law. This exercise benefits the country in that it encouraged progressive work to be done on competition issues for the purposes of compliance with COMESA competition requirements.
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ECA Chief stresses debt cancellation to alleviate suffering in Ebola-affected countries
In a statement delivered at the opening of the 26th Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Carlos Lopes has reiterated his call on International Financial Institutions to cancel external debts owed by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The three countries, stressed Lopes, have endured dramatic suffering as a result of the Ebola Virus Disease.
“The relationship of the three Ebola-affected countries with the International Financial Institutions is at a critical juncture as the imperative for debt cancellation is being discussed after our vocal case for it,” said Lopes, referring to the recently launched ECA report on Ebola, which pointed out that the alarmist projections were wrong.
“We could not visualize more than a marginal impact in the region’s performance, given the size of the three most affected countries being less than 1% of Africa’s combined GDP,” he said.
Mr. Lopes said that the cancellation should not lead to lack of confidence on these countries’ viability and credit worthiness.
“The three countries face recognized unique complex development challenges which limit their ability to contain the EVD outbreak itself, while promoting economic growth, improved public service delivery, meet regular debt service payments and plan for economic recovery,” he said.
He underlined that the setback induced by the EVD exacerbates weak initial conditions, structural vulnerabilities and limited potential to sustain growth under widening fiscal deficits.
As such, “external debt cancellation would offer the three countries a breathing space,” he said.
The report raises the alarm on the risk of a rise in mortality of diseases not related to Ebola and also points out the wider impacts of the virus on the livelihoods of those affected. Educational systems, rising social stigma, unemployment, and decreased food security are some of the big issues that Ebola-affected countries must deal with, according to the report.
Adding a word of caution Mr. Lopes said the Africa new narrative is well and alive. But it is also shaky, if we allow any cough to be transformed into an epidemic.
Present at the Executive Council Session were delegations from UN Agencies, International Institutions, Ministers from African member States of the African Union, Partners and members of the Diplomatic Corps. Key personnel included, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Chairperson of the Executive Council.
» Download the report: Socio-Economic Impacts of the Ebola Virus Disease on Africa.
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United States takes final step toward WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman formally delivered the United States’ letter of acceptance of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement to WTO Director General Roberto Azevêdo on 23 January 2015 in Davos, Switzerland. The delivery of the letter is the final step that the United States must take toward the entry into force of this hard won agreement that promises to improve trade efficiency and is projected to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity.
The United States is the third WTO Member to follow through with its letter of acceptance; Singapore and Hong Kong have also submitted letters. Ambassador Froman noted the importance of working towards timely entry into force of the Agreement and moving quickly so that its benefits begin to flow.
“The Agreement will unlock immense commercial opportunities for all developing and developed countries alike. These benefits can only be fully realized with implementation of this Agreement. We all want to start enjoying the benefits and we hope other Members will take this crucial next step as soon as possible.”
The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which was agreed to at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2013, is the first multilateral agreement to be concluded since the WTO’s inception 20 years ago.
The Agreement contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. This Agreement promises major reductions in costs and administrative burdens associated with moving goods across borders. This is especially the case for developing countries, which, by some estimates, may see reductions in trade costs of up to 15 percent.
Ambassador Froman outlined efforts underway to implement the Agreement.
“We are working with developing countries to help support effective implementation of this Agreement,” said Ambassador Froman. “In fact, we are already considering how to best support countries who are committed to implementation – teaming up with other governments and the private sector.”
Last November, WTO Members adopted a protocol to add the Agreement to the WTO Agreement and opening the process for individual Members to formally accept the Agreement.
The Trade Facilitation Agreement will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO’s 160 Members have completed their domestic legal procedures and submitted instruments of acceptance to the WTO.
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Davies in bid to save SA’s Agoa access
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has met with US Trade Representative Michael Froman as part of a stepped up effort to resolve a dispute involving US chicken imports into the local market and ensure South Africa’s continued participation in the preferential trade scheme, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
The meeting took place on the margins of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, which concluded on Saturday in Davos, Switzerland.
Davies told Business Report that the process to tackle the issue had now reached a stage where concrete offers were being made to resolve the matter. “This work has been ongoing,” said Davies.
He said that the process entailed “bringing our poultry associations together to work on a programme which would provide some additional market access for US poultry products, but which would also have a developmental component – which involves investments by US companies, training, skills development and support for intra-Africa trade.”
In the past year there has been a push for South Africa to lower tariffs on some US chicken imports, a campaign spearheaded by Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and his Republican counterpart Jonny Isakson of Georgia.
Last January the National Chicken Council and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council testified before the US International Trade Commission on the matter, and warned South Africa to lift the imposition of dumping duties from US poultry products and allow trade to resume “fairly and without restraint” or risk losing its Agoa preferences.
Delaware Online reported Coons last week as saying: “I will find a way to prevent South Africa from benefiting from Agoa if we cannot resolve their illegal ban on the importation of US poultry.”
Entry into the South African market of US poultry would be one way of helping offset the ban imposed by Russia on US poultry imports, according to analysts.
Davies said “while there is still no firm date on when the US Congress will engage on the Agoa re-authorisation issue, it is possible that this may happen in the next month or two.
“We indicated to the US trade representative, Michael Froman, that the dialogue between our two poultry associations had now reached the point of exchange of offers. He noted and welcomed the progress,” said Davies.
According to Davies, the government would respond to what the poultry industry players came up with, but he added that a settlement deal would involve an offer on quota or tonnage. He said he was “a bit surprised” by the threats involving South Africa’s Agoa status.
“We hope that (the offers) will create the momentum for the re-authorisation of Agoa with South Africa included. That’s what we are looking to achieve,” said Davies.
Although President Barack Obama’s administration supports Agoa’s renewal, the decision will be made by Congress and some US business interests and legislators want South Africa to be “graduated” because it is an upper middle-income country and because they say it is discriminating against US imports.
Tom Donohue, the president and chief executive of the US Chamber of Commerce, told President Jacob Zuma in August that the chamber was lobbying Congress hard for a renewal of Agoa with South Africa in it.
But he said South Africa needed to protect US intellectual property rights and trademarks, strengthen investor protections, repeal anti-dumping measures “and settle ongoing issues over ownership of foreign-headquartered firms”.
Officials said South Africa was responding to these complaints by considering the introduction of a tariff rate quota agreement, which would allow a quota of US chicken imports into the local market at lower tariffs.
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Green bonds are changing investor expectations & making sustainable investing easier
A year ago in Davos, World Bank Group President Jim Kim encouraged investors at the World Economic Forum to take a closer look at green bonds, a relatively new but growing option for investing in a sustainable and responsible way: Green bonds act like other bonds, but they can help fill gaps in much-needed development finance for climate-friendly projects.
About $11 billion in green bonds had been issued the previous year. The president called for doubling the annual issuances by the September 2014 Climate Leadership Summit. With new types of issuers, new green bond indices being created, and more buyers investing, the year closed with more than $35 billion in new green bonds.
As the World Economic Forum returns to Davos this week, green bond investments are widely forecast to continue their strong growth in 2015.
At the World Bank Group, we see several trends emerging.
Investor expectations are changing
The growth of the green bonds market is helping change how money is invested and what investors expect their money to accomplish.
Since the start of the market in 2007, the majority of green bonds have been issued by development banks like the World Bank and IFC and used for climate- and environment-friendly projects such as expanding rural solar power in Peru and large-scale renewable energy in Mexico; increasing irrigation efficiency in Tunisia; and expanding clean urban transport in Colombia, among other work.
Investors are drawn to both the liquid, fixed-income investments that green bonds offer and the positive impact they can have.
Many institutional investors such as pension funds now have mandates for sustainable and responsible investments and are developing strategies that explicitly address climate risks and opportunities in different asset classes. Green bonds can provide the verification and impact measurement that investors need. In the case of World Bank green bonds and IFC green bonds, they also bring AAA/Aaa ratings.
“Environmental degradation, poverty and the effects of climate change all threaten the well-being and stability of countries, communities, resources and businesses. Investors increasingly recognize the threats these forces create for long-term financial value and are increasingly considering it in their investment choices,” said Laura Tlaiye, a sustainability advisor at the World Bank, one of the first and largest issuers of green bonds with more than US$7 billion issued in 18 currencies.
Green bonds also give smaller investors a way to vote with their money. The State of Massachusetts, for example, received more than 1,000 orders from investors for a green bond it issued last year – most of them individual investors interested in supporting their local government's investment in the environment.
“The fact that there are investors looking for these types of investments and asking for detailed metrics on environmental performance changes incentives. We reach investors we would not otherwise reach, diversify and expand the investor base and funding sources,” said Heike Reichelt, head of investor relations and new products at the World Bank.
Expanding the issuer and investor bases
As the market grows, the size of green bonds is growing and new types of issuers are coming in.
Cities and state agencies, which have used bonds in the past to raise money for infrastructure projects, have started issuing green bonds to help support and highlight environment- and climate-friendly projects, such as efficiency improvements and public transportation. Johannesburg, South Africa, issued Africa’s first municipal green bond last year to help finance emissions-reducing projects including bio gas energy, solar power, and sustainable transportation.
Corporations and utilities have also started issuing green bonds. The French utility GDF Suez issued the largest green bond to date, 2.5 billion euros, intended to finance renewable energy projects such as wind farms and energy efficiency work such as smart metering and integrated districting heating networks. The expansion of issuers has drawn attention to the importance of transparency and standards.
For issuers, the green label can help reach new investors. As the green bond market grows, green projects will be prioritized over others, and issuers with strong sustainability credentials will be rewarded with a broader investor base.
New types of green bonds are also coming in and bonds are being issued in more currencies. The World Bank closed its first green bond for European retail investors in early January, raising $91 million for climate-friendly projects with an innovative equity index-linked green bond. IFC, which has issued over $3.7 billion in green bonds so far, issued its first green bonds in Renminbi and Peruvian soles last year.
Transparency and indices
Investors will tell you that the key to a successful green bond market is transparency. Green bond indices are an important development in this area.
The World Bank set a high standard when it launched the first green bond in partnership with Swedish bank SEB in 2007. Others have followed and adapted the model. The model starts with defining eligibility criteria for green bond-financed projects and verifying the criteria with an expert organization, such as CICERO. The World Bank established a process for selecting projects that meet the criteria, then set up a separate account to ring-fence the proceeds so they can be allocated to eligible projects. Finally, it reports on the climate and environment impact of the projects and ensures compliance.
That structure and focus on transparency and disclosure was a foundation for developing the voluntary Green Bond Principles, endorsed by over 70 investors, banks, other issuers and other market participants and now coordinated by the International Capital Markets Association.
To help investors evaluate green bonds, MSCI/Barclays and others have also launched green bond indices that score issuers and check their project selection criteria and management of proceeds to ensure the promised use, and ongoing reporting.
The impact on development finance
Public finance alone will never be enough to rein in climate change – private investment in climate-smart projects is necessary to put economies on a cleaner growth path. Green bonds help mobilize private sector finance and further educate the private sector in the value of investing in clean development.
“We believe sustainable investing will become the standard way of managing a fixed-income portfolio, transforming how companies and the projects they support are managed,” Reichelt said. “The next generation of portfolio managers will wonder how short-term gains could have overshadowed sustainable growth for so long.”
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Why informal cross border trade remains important
The buying and selling of goods and services between businesses in neighbouring EAC Partner States with the seller being in one Partner State and the buyer in the other, for example a company or an individual business person in Rwanda selling to a company in Burundi.
Cross Border Trade (CBT) plays an important role in poverty reduction as it provides trading opportunities for a good number of people, for example women, are the most active traders along Rwanda’s borders.
The EAC Partner States are recognizant that women make a significant contribution towards the process of socio-economic transformation and sustainable growth and that it is impossible to implement effective programmes for the economic and social development of the Partner States without the full participation of women.
Studies that were conducted indicate that 74% of informal cross-border trade is conducted by women and for the majority it is their only source of income. In addition, women trade predominately in lower value, low profit products.
Gender patterns in the composition of traded goods have been noticed: women sell mainly foodstuffs, for example, manioc flour, tomatoes, corn, onions, fish etc alongside a few other specific products like palm oil, while men sell a wider variety of products, often with a higher value like secondhand clothing, beer, household items and other fastmoving consumable goods.
However, some cross border women traders across the region do not use available formal systems/structures for most of their transactions most of them do not really understand the benefits gained through signed EAC treaties and protocols and thus miss many of the best opportunities by not utilising them, for example, when they opt to pass through the porous borders (panya roads) carrying locally produced goods from the neighboring Partner State indicate that they are not aware of the issuance of the certificate of origin on official borders.
This makes it difficult for regional trade policy initiatives such as under East African Community (EAC) and the Customs Protocol to have any significant impact on this informal trade by women.
The women show little evidence of knowledge regarding the Customs Protocol and even less motivation to use it to facilitate trading activities.
Currently, returns from cross border trade have been realized. Rwanda’s total cross border trade flows amounted to Rwf 375.4 billion in 2013, an increase of 19% over 2012 of which total cross border exports accounted for Rwf 159.3 billion and total cross border imports accounted for Rwf 216.1 billion with growth rate of 50% and 3% respectively.
Rwanda’s cross border trade deficit reduced by 45 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012.
EAC has offered a number of facilities to the cross border traders particularly through Simplified Trade Regime (STR) especially the small traders who regularly transact in values lower than 2000 dollars. This regime enables them import their goods duty free.
STR has its instruments like Simplified Certificate of Origin, list of common trade goods with neighboring countries and these instruments can benefit them by facilitating their business with in the EAC region. Simplified Certificate of Origin ensures that Customs border posts bordering with our neighboring countries facilitate small scale cross-border traders.
STR facility has impacted a lot on women in cross border trade and entire border communities in general.
There is reduction of transaction costs and elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers for example reduced documentation required to cross the border, increased trade volumes due to increased Market from EAC population estimated to be 140 Million people.
Other benefits include capacity building through sharing best practices with fellow women traders within the EAC, ability to buy goods cheaply from other Partner States, ease of investment in other Partner States, increased job opportunities, among others.
The Government of Rwanda, through responsible institutions, in a bid to promote cross border trade has continuously engaged stakeholders that are national, bilateral and regional and establishing national cross-border trade coordination and monitoring committee which have significantly reduced the cross border trade challenges, especially Non-Tariff Barriers.
Trade information desks were established at some borders aimed at improving visibility and provision of information to stakeholders.
One Stop Border Post (OSBP) which combines activities of two countries at a single location to remove unnecessary obstacles which hinder legitimate trade, extended working hours: Moving from 12 working hours to 24/7 operations among others
However, there is also need to support the activities aimed at raising awareness to increase the knowledge of traders in cross border trade to better equip and empower them to assert their rights if faced with arbitrary or incorrect application of rules, reforms and new developments.
The writer is the Director General, Coordination of EAC Affairs at the Ministry of EAC Affairs.
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NEPAD Steering Committee commends NEPAD impact and results – AU Summit
NEPAD’s impact and progress came under the spotlight on Sunday at the NEPAD Steering Committee meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of the 24th African Union Assembly.
The Committee, comprised of representatives of 20 African Heads of States, Regional Economic Communities (REC’s) and development partners met to assess progress made in various NEPAD programmes and activities.
Reporting back on 2014 activities, NEPAD Agency Chief Executive Officer Dr Ibrahim Mayaki emphasised that the Agency’s interventions are oriented towards transformative impact and changing the living conditions of African people.
“The NEPAD Agency collective presence is continental, with development interventions leveraging impacts in 50 countries. The Agency has achieved significant transformative development results in its major thematic areas of priorities,” Dr Mayaki said.
On regional integration, Dr Mayaki referred to the Dakar Financing Summit (DFS) as a milestone in identifying 16 bankable infrastructure projects that will address Africa’s infrastructure deficit. The NEPAD Agency has established a Service Delivery Mechanism, as part of the Dakar Agenda for Action, to support early-stage project preparation and development.
Dr Mayaki also highlighted activities underway under the partnership with USAID to implement the Power Africa initiative, which aims to add 30,000 MW of additional capacity and providing 60 million household and businesses with energy connections.
The Steering Committee members were briefed on progress made in the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), in which 50 out of 54 member states are currently engaged. 40 countries have signed up to the CAADP Compact, to allocate 10 per cent of national budgets to agriculture and 25 countries have adopted Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans. A CAADP Results Framework has been developed to better track, assess and monitor progress made towards the Malabo Decision to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation.
Mrs Estherine Fotabong, NEPAD Director of Programme Implementation and Coordination highlighted the Gender, Climate Change and Agriculture Support Programme which aims to equip women and other vulnerable farming groups with the knowledge, tools and skills needed to better adapt to the effects of climate change in agriculture. A total number of 25 million farmers will have reached climate smart technologies by 2025, Mrs Fotabong said.
She also cautioned that the NEPAD Agency is the first organisation in Africa to have established a Climate Change Fund, to make available to countries and RECs technical assistance, capacity building, knowledge management and policy development on climate change issues.
Mrs Gnounka Diouf, Chairperson of the NEPAD Steering Committee, commended progress made by the NEPAD Agency in 2014 and urged that 2015 will be an even more important year to accelerate NEPAD programme implementation, as it marks the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals and the development of Agenda 2063.
AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, African Union Dr Anthony Mothae Maruping said: “We need to take Agenda 2063 very seriously and turn our strategies into concrete implementable initiatives and carry them out.” Dr Maruping emphasised that the AUC will work closely with the NEPAD Agency on a 10 year implementation plan, as NEPAD remains relevant at national, regional and continental level.
The Steering Committee reviewed the Agenda for the 32nd NEPAD Heads of State Government and Orientation Committee Summit to be held on January 29.
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Falling prices lead to drop in East Africa’s coffee earnings
A supply glut and lower production have seen depressed earnings from tea and coffee in Uganda and Burundi.
In results for the 2014 season, Uganda reported coffee exports of 3.5 million 60kg bags worth $394 million, representing a 2.3 per cent drop in volume and nine per cent decrease in value from the previous year. Uganda sold its coffee at an average of $1.87 per kg, down from $2 per kg the previous year.
Norman Mutekanga, strategy and business development manager at Uganda Coffee Development Authority, said Uganda’s coffee export volumes are projected to remain flat this year as maturing trees planted over the past five years counter an anticipated decline in production after the sector was hit by the coffee twig borer pest.
In contrast, Uganda’s tea exports are projected to surge five per cent, peaking at 62,000 tonnes, although earnings are likely to remain flat due to a supply glut on the international market. Earnings from cocoa also increased from $46 million in 2013 to $58 million last year, as a result of higher prices and volumes that rose from 19,430 tonnes to 22,000 tonnes – cocoa trees planted a decade ago are now yielding fruit.
Unpredictable weather
In Burundi, earnings from coffee fell from $66.3 million in 2013, to $23.8 million in 2014; export volumes fell from 24,000 tonnes to 9,890 tonnes in the same period. This was attributed to unpredictable weather conditions and a lower-yielding crop cycle.
Burundi’s earnings from tea fell six per cent in the first nine months of the year to September 2014, as export volumes rose 5.2 per cent to 7.743 tonnes. The average export price per kg for Burundi’s tea declined from $2.42 to $2.16 over the same period.
“Overall earnings as well as the export price for Burundi’s tea dipped due to large quantities of tea available on the regional market,” said Joseph Ndahigeze, a director of the state-run Burundi Tea Board.
Kenya and Rwanda project higher earnings from coffee, but lower from tea, according to annual performance results to be announced in the next few weeks.
Higher production will insulate Kenya and Rwanda’s coffee earnings from the impact of falling prices, as with Uganda and Burundi, but their earnings from tea will fall due to a combination of lower output and a drop in prices.
Kenya’s coffee export volumes are projected to increase 15 per cent to 49,500 tonnes, buoyed by improved weather, better crop husbandry and more investment by farmers.
Tea earnings are projected to drop due to stiff competition from India and China and glut in the global market, Kenya Tea Board managing director Elizabeth Kimenyi said. Since 2014, there has been increased rivalry between Kenya, India and China over control of key tea markets including Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Rwanda’s coffee export earnings are projected to increase from $55 million to $70 million this year due to increased production. According to Rwanda’s National Agricultural Export Development Board, the country’s coffee export volumes are projected to increase from 20,000 tonnes to 23,000 tonnes as a result of favourable weather conditions.
Rwanda exported 24,000 tonnes of tea last year, fetching over $51 million; this was well below the target of $83 million. Rwanda exported 21,000 tonnes of coffee in the previous year, earning the country $56.56 million.
The relatively low performance last year was attributed to low prices on the international market, at about $2.5 per kg, down from $2.77 the previous year.
“This year, we hope for the best as we increase our production capacity,” said Corneille Ntakirutimana, the head of the tea division at Rwanda’s National Agriculture and Exports Board.
Rwanda aims to increase production capacity to 31,000 tonnes this year, with a revenue target of $73 million attributed to improved quality of tea as well as higher prices on the international market.
East Africa exports its coffee, tea and cocoa mainly to Europe, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Ireland.
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Regional Ministers adopt ECOWAS texts on gender equality
ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Gender issues have adopted three key documents for the promotion of gender equality in the region.
The text adopted by the Ministers at the end of their 16-17 January 2015 meeting in Dakar, Senegal, are the Draft Supplementary Act on Equality of Rights between Women and Men for Sustainable Development within the ECOWAS Region, the Draft ECOWAS Plan of Action on Gender and Trade, and the Draft ECOWAS Gender and Migration Framework and Plan of Action.
The Draft Supplementary Act was adopted with some amendments, with an agreement that the finalized document be transmitted to the Gender Ministers before onward presentation to the ECOWAS Council of Ministers.
The Ministers also made some changes to the Draft ECOWAS Plan of Action on Gender and Trade with the inclusion of some elements on animal products and fishery.
The meeting considered other documents including the Accra Declaration on Social Protection; the situation of the 200 school girls abducted in Chibok, northern Nigeria in April 2014 by the Boko Haram terrorist group; implementation of the ECOWAS Gender Policy, report on the Gender situation in West Africa in 2014 and the response to the Ebola virus epidemic in the region.
On the implementation of the ECOWAS Gender Policy, participants recommended increased access to credit for women in livestock farming and fishery, and the replacement of the phrase “health of the mother” with “health of the woman.”
Regarding the report on the gender situation in West Africa, Member States urged to update their data on Gender and transmit same to the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre based in Dakar, Senegal.
On the Ebola epidemic, the meeting while commending ECOWAS for measures taken to halt the spread of the disease, recommended among other things, the establishment of a fund for managing diseases (post-epidemic period), and the conduct of a study on Gender and Ebola in West Africa to encourage government funding.
The Ministers expressed their appreciation to the region and the international community for their support in the fight against the spread of Ebola in the region.
Another document adopted by the meeting is the Accra Declaration on Social Protection, with participants calling for the creation of an Assembly of Ministers of Social Affairs and Gender to combine gender, children and family issues
The Ministers also called for the immediate, unconditional release of the 200 Chibok girls and other persons, mainly women and children, carried out in Northern Nigeria by insurgents, and demand for their immediate and unconditional release.
They strongly condemned the abductions, which they described as criminal acts, and the recruitment of young girls to carry out suicidal attacks, the bombings, burning of villages and destruction of infrastructure in northern Nigeria by Boko Haram.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Senegal’s Minister for Women, Family and Children affairs Mrs Mariama Sarr and the Ghanaian Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Honorable Nana Oye Lithur, whose country chairs the ECOWAS Authority, commended the conclusions of the meeting and thanked participants for their insight and recommendations.
Minister Sarr expressed the hope that recommendations of the meeting will receive the approval of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and the Authority of Heads of State and Government.
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2015 – Year for strengthening SADC regional integration
The year 2015 promises to be an exciting period for southern Africa, with crucial regional processes expected to be concluded and deadlines for a number of important regional and global milestones beckoning during the next 12 months.
Key highlights for the coming year include the convening of an Extraordinary Summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders that will shape the integration agenda for the region.
At the summit, discussions will focus on how the region could improve its industrial capacity as it aims to move away from an economic path built on consumption and commodity exports onto a sustainable developmental path based on value-addition and beneficiation.
Industrial development has long been identified as one of the main drivers of regional integration in SADC as it promotes the diversification of economies, as well as the development of productive capacity and the creation of employment to reduce poverty.
Therefore, the development of a SADC industrialisation policy framework is expected to enable the region to transform its economies from being raw resource-dependent to ones that enjoy beneficiated products that are technology driven, dynamic and diversified.
Another key highlight of the Extraordinary SADC Summit should be the expected approval of the revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).
The 34th SADC Summit held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in August 2014 postponed the approval of the revised RISDP to allow synchronization of the four SADC regional integration pillars – industrial development and market integration; infrastructure development for regional integration; peace and security cooperation; and special programmes.
The Summit felt that the implementation of the pillar on industrial development and market integration was skewed in favour of trade issues, with little progress made on the industrialisation component.
The RISDP, which is a 15-year blueprint for SADC regional integration and development, has been under review since 2010 as part of efforts to align the region’s development agenda in line with new realities and emerging global dynamics.
With regard to gender equality, 2015 is the year the region has set as the deadline for the attainment of the target of equal representation of women and men in key decision-making positions in public and private sectors.
Although significant progress has been made towards attainment of the target of 50:50 gender representation in decision-making positions, a lot more still needs to be done to ensure that this is achieved by the end of 2015.
According to the SADC Gender Monitor 2013 produced by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre for the SADC Gender Unit, only five SADC Member States were close to the target of parity in parliament by mid-2013, having gone above the 30-percent previous threshold set by regional leaders.
These are Seychelles (43.8 percent), South Africa (42.3 percent), Mozambique (39.2 percent), Tanzania (36 percent), Angola (34.1 percent) and Zimbabwe (31.5 percent) who joined this list in the 31 July 2013 elections. A number of other SADC countries are below the 20 percent mark.
The African Union has declared 2015 as the as the year of “Women’s Empowerment and Development Towards Africa’s Agenda 2063,” to encourage countries to speed up the implementation of protocols and instruments aimed at promoting gender equality and parity.
On the political scene, three countries – Zambia, Lesotho and the United Republic of Tanzania – will go to the polls during the year to elect new leaderships.
Zambia will choose a new leader on 20 January following the death of President Michael Sata in October 2014.
According to the Zambian Constitution, if the office of the President becomes vacant by reason of death or other reasons, an election shall be held within 90 days of the office becoming vacant.
Acting President Guy Scott is constitutionally unable to participate in the elections as both his parents were not born in Zambia.
Among the nine aspiring presidential candidates are Defence Minister and leader of the ruling Patriotic Front, Edgar Lungu and Nevers Mumba of the main opposition Movement for Multi-Party Democracy.
Others include Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development and Edith Nawakwi of the Forum for Democracy and Development.
The winning candidate will become Zambia’s sixth president since the country got its independence from Britain on 24 October 1964.
Lesotho is set to go to the polls on 28 February to elect a new government. This follows a SADC-mediated agreement to bring forward the elections from 2017 to ensure that stability returns to the Kingdom following an alleged attempted coup in August 2014.
SADC Facilitator, South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, has led the regional effort to create peace and stability in Lesotho after disturbances in the country last year.
The SADC mediation led to the signing of the Maseru Facilitation Declaration in October and the Maseru Security Accord in November.
Substantive progress has been made with the signing of those agreements, resulting in the reconvening of parliament in October; dissolution of parliament in December; and the agreement to bring forward elections to February 2015.
The political crisis in Lesotho was allegedly triggered when Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, facing a vote of no-confidence, suspended Parliament in June 2014 after challenges in the coalition government formed in 2012.
Tanzania is yet to set the date for its presidential and parliamentary elections. However, the country has always held in late October.
In accordance with the Tanzanian constitution, incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete will not take part in the elections as he is serving his second and final term.
The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, which has never lost an election since independence in 1961, is yet to announce its candidate for the presidential elections.
In addition to elections in the region, at least two countries, namely Zambia and Tanzania, are expected to hold referenda on their new constitutions this year.
The Tanzanian referendum is set for 30 April. If adopted, the new constitution will replace the one approved in 1977.
Key highlights of the draft constitution include the introduction of 50:50 gender representation in parliament. This is in line with the SADC Protocol Gender and Development, which calls for equal representation of women and men in decision-making positions.
Zambia has said preparations to hold its referendum will take place after the presidential elections on 20 January.
Infrastructure and energy development will remain key intervention areas in 2015, as an efficient and cost-effective transport network and stable energy supplies are critical to a thriving economy at both national and regional levels.
SADC has adopted an ambitious US$64-billion programme to develop cross-border infrastructure in six priority areas of energy, transport, tourism, water, information communication technology and meteorology.
Implementation of this programme started in 2013 and will gain momentum in 2015 as the region plans to develop a total of 106 cross-border projects during the first phase, by 2017.
With respect to energy development, southern Africa is expected to make a big stride towards increasing the use of clean and alternative energy through the establishment of the SADC Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREE).
A total of five countries – Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – have expressed interest in hosting the centre.
The proposed centre would, among other things, spearhead the promotion of renewable energy development in the region.
In addition to being affordable, secure and reliable, renewable energy will not be depleted and is less polluting to the environment compared to fossil energy.
SADC member states, through the Southern African Power Pool, have identified priority energy projects to be implemented in the short-term with a target of attaining power self-sufficiency by 2018.
With regard to the environment and climate change, key highlights for the year include the expected adoption of a climate change agreement.
The long-awaited United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) global agreement to be adopted in Paris in December 2015 will replace the Kyoto Protocol which is ending this year.
The new agreement is expected to provide a legal framework for implementation of strategies to slow climate change to a level that is not dangerous.
It is expected to ensure that past agreements on finance, adaption, mitigation, technology and capacity building support are implemented.
Implementation of such agreements is critical for developing countries of the South which bear the impact despite contributing little to the problem.
Another important milestone for SADC and the rest of the global community is achieving targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
A total of eight goals, ranging from education and health to poverty alleviation and the environment were approved by the global community in 2000 with desirable targets and measurable indicators.
While remarkable progress has been recorded in some countries, most developing countries are still off track to meeting the desired targets by the end of 2015.
In light of this, the global community has agreed to develop the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), commonly referred to as the Post-2015 Development Agenda, to ensure that the momentum achieved in implementing MDGs is maintained.
The challenge for SADC and other developing countries is to, therefore, make sure that their concerns and demands are included in the SDGs.
On the sporting arena, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Zambia will carry the SADC flag at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Equatorial Guinea from 17 January to 8 February.
The three SADC countries have all previously won Africa’s greatest soccer prize, with Zambia being the most recent winner in 2012.
Draft master plan for logistics hub out
The draft master plan for a Namibia-based international hub for Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries has been released.
The report has been commissioned by the Namibian government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It was prepared by the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment.
The report said good infrastructure and Namibia’s geographical position gives the country huge potential to become an international logistics and distribution centre in Southern Africa.
Master Plan
The government, through the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Works and Transport, with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, is preparing a master plan for the development of the hub.
The plan aims to raise Namibia’s profile as a logistics nation.
“Implementation of the project is likely to cause both positive and negative impacts on the natural and socioeconomic environments of Namibia. This strategic Environmental Assessment is being conducted to identify such impacts and to incorporate possible measures to mitigate negative impacts of the Master Plan,” the report says.
Unknown risk
The report notes that Namibia is a newcomer in terms of the international logistics sector, with a relatively small domestic cargo demand base.
“Even though there are problems associated with the main gateways used at present – Durban and Dar es Salaam – Namibia’s logistics sector is still an unknown risk for international business people.
It was recommended that Namibia must present strong selling points that makes it favourable in comparison with the other well established gateways. It said Namibia needs to create strong ‘pull-factors’.
The first and most important way to do this is to set land costs strategically low for logistics industries, the report says.
Pull factors
“The prices must not be higher than one-third of the price in Cape Town or Durban. This is the single-most important factor for attracting logistics business; relatively high land prices will undermine any of the other ‘pull-factors’.”
The report says if large logistics companies like DHL establish large-scale operational bases in Namibia’s ports and gateways, they will quickly generate the volumes of products for large-scale transit business.
It recommended that funds raised for road maintenance must be used for that explicit purpose.
“Cross-subsidisation of other socially or politically driven projects must be stopped. For example, Road Fund fees must be used to fund road maintenance, not to construct new roads for political gain. If infrastructure is not adequately maintained, then Namibia will lose competitiveness in the logistics sector.”
The new container terminal in Walvis Bay Port is expected to be fully operational by early 2018 which will expand its handling capacity from 350 000 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEU) to 800 000 TEU per year.
Cargo generation, which is the sum of cargo production and the attraction of Windhoek, in 2025 is estimated to be 1,8 times higher than in 2011 (38 000 tons per day), and in 2045 will be 5,1 times higher than in 2011 (106 000 tons per day).
Cargo volume
The Master Plan sets targets for 2025 with given projected potential demand and supply capacity and the resultant impacts on the economy.
Cargo volume to the landlocked areas of SADC is expected to increase from 12% in 2013 to 20% in 2025. This represents an increase from 0,8 million tonnes to 3,6 million tonnes in 2025.
By the year 2045, the target is set for 22%, equivalent to 14,5 million tonnes.
If the expected growth in cargo happens, the proportion of transport and storage to GDP will increase from 2,5% to 4.6% in 2025, making logistics one of the major industries in Namibia. Employment in this sector will more than double, going from about 26 000 at present to about 58 000 in 2025.
The projected increase in cargo volumes will be facilitated by a shift in the mode of transport, to more cargo travelling by rail. If such a shift happens, the share of rail will increase from 12,1% to 14,7%. The mode switch depends on TransNamib successfully achieving target cargo volumes and reliability, which is being initiated now through its turnaround strategy and business development plans.
Cargo flow
Projections by TransNamib and JICA show that future cargo volume transported by railway could be 4,8 million tonnes by 2020 compared to 4,9 million tons in 2025 based on forecasting of future cargo flow and the current modal split ratio. In the rail orientation scenario, railway cargo would increase to 6 million tonnes in 2025, increasing the railway share of cargo from 12,1% to 14,7%.
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Ten reasons why 2015 is a crucial year for Africa, by Caroline Kende-Robb
Africa is a critical continent to watch in 2015. The year ahead holds incredible opportunity – as well as considerable risk.
Africa is poised to receive the global attention it deserves at top-level international meetings on financing for development, new global development goals and climate change.
But alongside such opportunities, the world’s fast-changing economic environment brings risk. Oil and commodity prices, which plummeted in 2014, are likely to remain unstable. And the banking system will be challenged by new regulatory and compliance frameworks. These macro changes have so far been greatly underestimated.
Here are some of the scenarios we see unfolding in Africa in 2015:
Power generation leaps ahead: Africa’s energy needs are huge – but so is the scope for energy-poor nations to leapfrog straight to clean energy. For now, fossil fuels are still vital to power homes, factories, schools, hospitals and overall economic growth. But in spite of the oil price drop, renewable energy sources are poised to claim a huge and growing share of Africa’s energy mix.
Changing the climate narrative: Global climate negotiations have so far yielded little for Africa. In 2015, African nations will become more forthright, seizing the chance to shift the climate narrative from one of dependence to one of opportunity and transformation. Controversially, that will mean defending Africa’s continuing need to exploit fossil fuels, and showing the rich world that climate justice means investing more in clean energy and protecting African forests and farmers.
Breaking the finance barriers: A troubled global banking system, increased U.S. interest rates, tense climate finance negotiations and less international aid: for all these reasons, a lack of available finance is likely to be a key constraint for Africa in 2015. But in response, African investors and governments will innovate more. Peer-to-peer banking and mobile banking will thrive. More and more Africans will embrace the power of domestic savings – and insurance markets will emerge as an exciting and effective means to invest those savings. As a result, African banks will finally face a much-needed shake-up.
Africa accelerates its transformation: The pace of investment into Africa will slow, as oil and gas exploration money drops off and higher U.S. interest rates attract foreign investment to the United States. But many investors will see the long-term potential of a whole array of African industries, such as renewable energy, farming, fisheries and fashion. African leaders and their partners will recognize that they need to seize the chance now to attract foreign investment while this brief opportunity exists.
Oil’s silver lining: Low oil prices will pose problems for many economies, including Algeria, Angola, Nigeria and Ghana, but will also offer opportunities for many to cut subsidies for fuel that have exacerbated inequality.
Nigeria in the spotlight: Africa’s most populous country and largest economy will remain tense ahead of its February elections, which will show the world both its incredible strength and fragility. Nigeria has a chance to set a course that will harness its brilliance and energy to be a positive global force.
Secrecy’s last stand: Africa will benefit from the continuing global push for greater transparency, including in the extractive industries. In the United States, resistance from the American Petroleum Institute to increased revenue transparency will be seen for what it is – a tiresome, reactionary trend to the global transparency revolution. The United States will push ahead with implementing the Dodd-Frank Act and plans to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
More Swiss-based commodity companies will sign up to the EITI Standard, following Trafigura, which announced its new policy in November 2014. The Swiss commodity-trading sector has long been viewed as the last bastion of secrecy, standing firm against a global revolution that elsewhere is bringing transparency to the oil, gas, and mining industries and their operations in Africa.
Making profits public: The crackdown on corporate secrecy in Europe, including anonymous company ownership, will continue. And the United States will be forced to follow suit. Countries will feel increased pressure to make public registers of who owns companies – denying shelter to those who have been hiding illicit gains from Africa. A global alignment of interests will see business leaders, the banking industry and law enforcement authorities increasingly raise their voices in favour of this level of transparency.
Defending coastal economies: Closer to home, some African nations will support the Port State Measures Agreement, which needs 25 national ratifications before it enters into force. Africa has 35 coastal nations and has some of the world’s regions worst hit by illegal fishing. Africa’s role will therefore be critical in pushing forward this important global agreement.
Global influence grows: And as always, the continent will continue to build its pan-African identity and cultural influence around the world. Watch out for Africa fashion and films going global, the rise of pan-African banking, pan-African food markets, and new pan-African social media platforms (such as Mara Online) emerging to challenge the global giants of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The author is Executive Director of the Africa Progress Panel, which is chaired by Kofi Annan. This year’s Africa Progress Report will be released in June 2015 on climate change, energy and agriculture in Africa.
This article was originally published in Mail and Guardian.
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Sen. Chris Coons fights South Africa on poultry duties
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware has issued a strong warning to South Africa: Drop your “unfair” duties on U.S. poultry or prepare to see your trade benefits disappear.
Since 2000, the Republic of South Africa has subjected U.S. bone-in poultry to “anti-dumping” duties, penalties that countries impose on imports they believe are priced suspiciously low. The duties have effectively blocked U.S. poultry producers from a growing market, costing the industry millions.
South African officials say their policy is consistent with World Trade Organization legal requirements and that U.S. and South African industry and government officials are discussing possible solutions.
Coons, whose home-state’s top agriculture product is poultry, says the policy is not only unfair but illegal, based on a 2013 WTO ruling in favor of the United States in a similar dispute with China. He’s using the upcoming reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act as leverage to force a resolution.
“I will find a way to prevent South Africa from benefiting from AGOA if we cannot resolve their illegal ban on the importation of U.S. poultry,” Coons said in an interview.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to soon take up reauthorization of AGOA, a 2000 law that allows sub-Saharan African countries working to improve their legal systems, human rights records and labor standards to have greater access to U.S. markets.
Coons and Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia plan to urge Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah to quickly take up the bill – and find a way to prevent South Africa from benefiting from AGOA as long as it continues to block U.S. poultry from its market.
Coons is the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa. Isakson serves on the Finance Committee.
“It’s not fair for them to continue to get that benefit when they aren’t playing fair with American exports,” Coons said.
South Africa benefits greatly from the law. Its exports under AGOA were valued at $3.6 billion in 2013, and 42 percent of the country’s exports to the United States, mainly manufactured goods, enter duty-free, according to Sidwell Medupe, spokesman for the country’s Department of Trade and Industry.
The department estimates AGOA generated about 350,000 direct jobs and 1.3 million indirect jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, while creating about 100,000 jobs in the United States.
South Africa is seeking renewal of AGOA for at least 15 years “without any new and onerous eligibility criteria,” Medupe said in a statement.
“This is crucial for Africa’s regional economic integration efforts,” he stated.
Opening the South African market is important for the U.S. poultry industry, especially after a Russian ban on U.S. food imports, said James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. U.S. poultry exports had a 5-percent share of the South African market before the duties were imposed in 2000 and the industry expects that “fair access” to the market would lead to about $120 million in sales, he said.
“It makes no sense for the United States to give special preferences to countries that treat our trade unfairly,” he said.
Mike Little, director of export sales at Mountaire Farms in Millsboro, Del., said Delaware growers stand to gain from opening up South Africa.
“The more places we have to sell our chicken, the better the industry will be,” he said. “It’s a trickle-down effect.”
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Agriculture Ministers: Sustainable production needed to tackle hunger
A communiqué approved by agriculture ministers and officials from over 60 countries has declared that sustainable production is key to tackling hunger and malnutrition, while largely skirting controversies around trade affecting supply and demand for food, farm goods, and forestry.
The ministers, who met in Berlin on 17 January at an annual event organised by the German government, proclaimed that “only resilient, diversified, and sustainable agrifood systems can provide the foundation for achieving the human right to adequate food.”
Major farm exporting and importing countries attended the event. The conference organisers said that governments participating included Argentina, China, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam, as well as officials from the European Commission, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Bank.
No senior US participant joined the event, despite food and agriculture remaining a major sticking point in ongoing talks between the US and EU for a bilateral trade deal, known formally as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
However, Russian and German agriculture ministers reportedly expressed satisfaction with separate bilateral talks on trade in farm goods, following Moscow’s imposition of sanctions on EU food exports.
Rising demand for renewables
Limited fossil fuel supplies – and their impact on climate change and the environment – mean countries must consider replacing non-renewable with renewable resources, the ministers warned.
Rising demand for farm goods in the non-food sector can help create jobs and raise farm incomes, the statement says.
“These markets can thus also play an important role in combating poverty, if smallholders are appropriately integrated,” the ministers declared.
Over the last decade, demand for agricultural products such as maize, rapeseed, sugar, and palm oil has been spurred by growing demand for bioenergy. Although high oil prices have until recently been a major factor behind the demand growth, many governments have also used subsidies, tariffs, and blending mandates to boost industrial development in the sector – along with other tools such as export restrictions on raw materials, renewable energy targets, and sustainability criteria.
Some governments have already expressed fears that the new policies are distorting trade, with disputes on biodiesel in particular proliferating at the WTO.
Food comes first
Ministers acknowledged that agricultural raw materials have been used as food, feed, building materials, and in crafts and trades “since time immemorial.”
However, new uses for renewable resources create fresh opportunities, they declared, dubbing these the “bioeconomy.”
At the same time, sustainable food production “remains the priority goal,” the communiqué said.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva expressed similar sentiments in remarks the previous day. “There is no question that food comes first,” he said at a related meeting in Berlin.
“But nowadays we need to move from the food versus fuel debate to a food and fuel debate,” he warned.
Paradigm shift
Da Silva cautioned that the food supply issues highlighted by ministers was only one part of the story.
“We have made great progress in the supply side, but there are still over 800 million people who go to bed hungry every day.”
He also warned that – in addition to improving access to food for the poor – global agriculture needed to undergo a “paradigm shift” if it was to remain sustainable in the long run.
“Business as usual would mean a huge and simultaneous increase in the need for food, energy and water in the next decades,” Da Silva said, estimating that this could amount to a need for 60 percent more food, 50 percent more energy, and 40 percent more water by 2050.
A changing reality?
The ministers’ focus on demand growth nonetheless seemed at odds with the most recent report from the FAO on food prices.
The agency announced that 2014 was the third consecutive year of falling prices, as prices gradually came down from a sharp peak in 2011.
“Continued large supplies and record stocks combined with a stronger US dollar and falling oil prices contributed to the decline,” the organisation said.
Biofuels in particular have been affected by the collapse in oil prices, which have come down from a peak of around US$140 a barrel in 2008 to just under US$50 today.
"Ample supplies aside, the drop in oil prices obviously makes ethanol production less attractive," said FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian.
Some experts questioned whether the ministers had been right to focus heavily on challenges associated with growth in demand, especially against the backdrop of slowing economic growth rates in developing country powerhouses such as China and India.
“Much of the communiqué sounds as if it is from the distant past – or from a different planet,” one policy analyst told Bridges.
A global focus
The summit, now in its seventh year and a regular fixture on the calendar of many agriculture ministers, nonetheless provided the German government a welcome opportunity to demonstrate its ability to bring together actors on food and agriculture to focus on global issues.
“Germans are very proud of the fact that they have gathered a huge number of representatives from all around the world,” said one official familiar with the event.
Germany, along with many EU countries, has seen growing controversy recently over the proposed new Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which campaigners contend could erode standards for health and safety and the environment.
German agriculture minister Christian Schmidt defended the proposed deal in recent comments to Reuters. “For Germany as an export country, the agreement is of great importance,” he said.
“We already export food worth €1.6 billion every year to the United States with a rising trend, so our agriculture also has an interest in the agreement,” he said.
Germany, Russia meeting
In the margins of the summit, a meeting between Schmidt and Russian agriculture minister Nikolai Fyodorov reportedly led to progress in discussions over mutual trade in food products in the framework of current laws, Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported.
“We cannot solve pressing political problems, but we can maintain dialogue in the current conditions,” the German minister reportedly said. “We can make trade between our countries more intensive.”
Fyodorov concurred, telling journalists that the two ministers had “discussed possible expansion of cooperation and mutual trade in agricultural products.”
This would take place “strictly within the frameworks of the current legislation of Russia, the Customs Union, Germany, and the European Union.”
Fyodorov also said that if Greece left the EU – a scenario which Germany and other EU members have sought to avoid – it would no longer be affected by the current ban on food imports, introduced last year.
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African leaders addressing intra-Africa trade bottlenecks
President Jacob Zuma says African countries are already working together to remove red tape that hinders intra-African trade.
The President said while doing business in the continent was not easy, African Heads of State were already tackling all the bottlenecks seen to be preventing local and foreign investors to move freely across borders.
President Zuma was participating in a debate hosted by the CNBC Africa on the side-lines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
He said this, coupled with infrastructure development, was key to advancing inclusive growth within the continent which will lead to job creation and poverty alleviation.
“We realise that if you are in Africa it is difficult to move and we are saying it should be quick to move if we are to implement our belief that intra-Africa is important and therefore once we have the infrastructure, it should not be blocked by the different countries.
“I know that regulations are the biggest problems for investors. These are matters we are dealing with to try and make it easy [for investors to invest]. We are also looking at how investors can do business easily without dealing with complicated bureaucracies. These are matters we are addressing,” he said.
President Zuma also said that while Africa was blessed with skilled industrialists, they have had to relocate to countries in developed states because there were simply no industries in their respective countries to use those skills.
“We also have skills in the continent that are not in the continent but are dispersed all over the world because there was no industry for those skills to be utilised.
“We believe that once we have the infrastructure, we have energy, those skills are going to come back to the country and they are not going to leave the continent. So therefore the shortage of skills is not going to be an issue and these are the matters we are working on.”
Intra-African trade has been on the African Union (AU) Commission’s agenda in recent times, especially with the continent consistently recording economic growth of above five percent.
South Africa is catching up to its peers
Last year, Nigeria overtook South Africa to be ranked number one in the continent in terms of economic growth.
South Africa’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP), however, slowed down to 0.6% in the third quarter of 2014 before growing to 1.4%. The National Treasury later revised the GDP growth downwards.
The President said while this was good for the continent, it was important to never compare South Africa’s challenges to other countries as the democratic government was tasked with growing the economy despite being burdened by the legacy left by the apartheid regime.
“We are not like countries that have been developing all the time. But I think we are doing our best to deal with the legacy but also to expand the economic situation in the country.
“We are investing in infrastructure massively, we have the National Development Plan (NDP), we are dealing with energy as a specific area to grow the economy,” he said.
He said government was doing all it can to implement the National Development Plan in order to meet the target of growing South Africa’s economy by a rate of five percent by 2019.
A World Bank report has projected the country’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by 5.2% in the 2015/ 16 financial year.
“So from our point of view, we … understand why our country is not growing fast. We are doing everything to ensure that we catch up.
“That is the mood and South Africa is a very open country for investment,” he said.
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The New Global Context: Could economic transformations threaten stability?
UBS has produced a white paper on the New Global Context, the theme of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2015 in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21-24. The white paper examines four key pillars of global development – US energy independence, technological innovation, the exit from loose monetary policy, and the environmental credit crunch. It also recommends solutions to related challenges for the global economy, including geopolitical tensions, financial vulnerabilities, and poverty.
The world economy has recently endured the most severe recession since the 1930s. Large parts of its financial system nearly perished in the process. The subsequent recovery has been weak, uninspired, and bedeviled by other significant strains, not least those that nearly tore the Eurozone apart. Disparities in income and wealth within countries have widened significantly. Political systems are struggling to cope with these stresses, with extremist parties and views on the rise. Regional conflict has re-erupted where it was previously dormant, and risks doing so elsewhere as well.
Against this backdrop, it is easy to be pessimistic – even alarmist – about the world’s economic prospects. However imperfectly, the outlook will, we believe, nonetheless continue to improve. Cyclical and policy conditions are mostly supportive, and low inflation is a plus. Economies are proving to be both more resilient and flexible than expected. The first signs of reform are emerging.
Perhaps the most enduring positive of all, human ingenuity, is alive and well, contributing breath-taking innovations at an electric pace. In areas ranging from energy to information technology, promising new innovations offer foundations for supply-side growth. We have estimated that the productivity gains over the next decade associated with today’s new technologies could be as propitious as those ushered in by the personal computer and internet during the 1990s. In some cases (e.g. mobile internet) they already offer new and affordable ways for individuals in some of the most economically challenged parts of the world to improve their standard of living, afford basic financial services, and offer their skills and services to others.
In a world where labor may face relative scarcity, and capital investment remains muted, efficiency gains from technology and new sources of cheap energy will be particularly important in driving productivity and growth. Yet, as we consider these new sources of potential economic efficiency, we also need to take a step back. Today’s global economy is incredibly complex. Supply chains are longer and more international than at any time in the past, even compared to a quarter century ago. Arguably, this very complexity has helped raise living standards worldwide by enabling large numbers of people to participate in the global economy in a way that was unimaginable a generation ago. But it also makes it even harder to identify potentially disruptive influences, or inefficient external costs, that new developments could introduce.
In this paper, published to accompany the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2015 in Davos, we will look at four key medium-term pillars of development: US energy independence, technological innovation, the exit from loose monetary policy, and our changing relationship with the environment. We will try to assess not only the direct impact they will have but also their wider consequences for the global economy.
In our view, governments and policymakers will need to consider the fragility of this interwoven economy. At a time when potential growth is low, the temptation to push through growth-boosting initiatives “at any cost” will be high. The threat such initiatives pose to long-run stability, however, is real. A unifying “cost” of all of the developments discussed is the negative impact they could have on poverty and global cooperation. Policymakers must try to seek fair outcomes for society, while trying harder than ever to find a happy middle ground among competing objectives. It will be critical for “solutions” not to result in overregulation that cripples growth and innovation. We believe the focus should be on a regulatory framework that supports macroeconomic objectives. In each part, we offer potential policy remedies to the issues raised.
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Ebola: Most African countries avoid major economic loss but impact on Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone remains crippling
The Ebola epidemic will continue to cripple the economies of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone even as transmission rates in the three countries show significant signs of slowing, according to a World Bank Group analysis on the economic impact of Ebola in Africa. The Bank Group estimates that these three countries will lose at least US$1.6 billion in forgone economic growth in 2015 as a result of the epidemic.
But the new report – released on the eve of the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos – also contains more positive news: the probability of spread and the associated economic costs beyond the three most-affected countries are now much lower than previously feared because of the intensive global and national responses to the epidemic over the past several months.
An earlier World Bank Group economic analysis (from October 8, 2014) found that the West Africa region alone could experience a downside scenario of US$25 billion in economic losses in 2015, but the current report estimates the range for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole to be from a low of US$500 million to a high of US$6.2 billion.
The national and international responses have resulted in a number of public health improvements within the three West African nations, including safer burial practices, earlier case detections, more health workers and treatment facilities, public awareness campaigns and stepped-up contact tracing. These policy and behavior responses have contributed to a lower risk of spread across borders. The lower estimates also reflect fast and effective containment measures taken in the neighboring countries of Mali, Nigeria and Senegal, all of which have now been declared Ebola-free.
“Even if Ebola is controlled and further outbreaks avoided,” said the report, “economic costs will be incurred across sub-Saharan Africa in 2015. Consumer and investor confidence has been eroded by the outbreak of the virus, and disruptions to travel and cross-border trade suggest cumulative losses of more than US$500 million across the region in 2015, outside the three directly affected countries.” The report said the losses could be closer to the higher end of the estimate – US$6 billion – if the Ebola outbreak were to spread through the region, reinforcing the need for a swift end to the epidemic.
“I am very encouraged to see Ebola transmission rates slowing markedly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and that other potential outbreaks have been averted because of swift action by other West African governments,” said Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, who will discuss the emerging lessons from the Ebola crisis with world leaders in Davos this week. “Yet as welcome as these latest signs are, we cannot afford to be complacent. Until we have zero new Ebola cases, the risk of continued severe economic impact to the three countries and beyond remains unacceptably high.”
The report notes that containment and preparedness efforts dramatically limited the potential impact of Ebola on the African economy, compared to earlier worst-case scenarios. The scope of the report did not include examining the national and international response to determine most effective policies in curtailing the spread of the virus.
One major lesson from the Ebola outbreak, said Kim, was for the world to respond much more quickly to epidemics.
“This report demonstrates why all countries should make investing in pandemic preparedness a top priority for 2015,” said Kim. “It points to the need for a global pandemic emergency financing facility that will enable the world to respond much more quickly and effectively to any future deadly outbreaks, and avoid the tragic and unnecessary human and economic costs that have resulted from the Ebola epidemic.”
Economic impact on Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
The new report finds that “the Ebola epidemic continues to cripple the economies of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.” Full-year 2014 growth in Sierra Leone fell by more than half to 4.0 percent from 11.3 percent expected before the crisis, with large reductions in Guinea and Liberia as well. The total fiscal impact felt by the three countries in 2014 was over half a billion dollars, nearly 5 percent of their combined GDP.
Investor aversion further diminishes 2015 growth estimates to -0.2 percent in Guinea, 3.0 percent in Liberia, and -2.0 percent in Sierra Leone (down from pre-Ebola estimates of 4.3 percent, 6.8 percent, and 8.9 percent, respectively). These projections imply forgone income across the three countries in 2015 of about US$1.6 billion: about US$500 million for Guinea, US$200 million for Liberia, and US$900 million for Sierra Leone, or more than 12 percent of their combined GDP.
Expected Forgone GDP in 2015 due to Ebola and Global Economic Conditions (in US dollars)
Africa-wide impact in 2015
The Bank Group expects sub-Saharan Africa to grow at 4.6 percent in 2015, down from a 5.0 percent forecast in June 2014. Projections have been lowered because of global events, including the West African Ebola epidemic as well as the net effect of winners and losers from a steep fall in the global prices of oil and other commodities. Key risks to this projected growth include a renewed spread of Ebola, violent insurgencies, further reductions in commodity prices, and volatile global financial conditions.
Much of the economic impact of Ebola beyond the epicenter of directly affected West African countries is based on fear, as was the case during the SARS outbreak in East Asia a decade ago. This fear – as well as the associated aversion behavior – relates to concerns that the epidemic cannot be contained (heightened by several cases in the USA and the EU) and in some cases to misperceptions about African geography (some of the economically affected countries have not experienced a single case of Ebola).
World Bank Group’s Response to Ebola Crisis
The World Bank Group has mobilized nearly US$1 billion in financing for the countries hardest hit by the Ebola crisis. This includes US$518 million from IDA for the epidemic response, and at least US$450 million from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to enable trade, investment, and employment in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
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Puzzles of Nigeria’s OPEC membership
Barely 55 years ago, five oil-producing developing countries including Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, gathered in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to form the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
That meeting was a momentous as it was held at a time when the oil market was dominated by the established industrialized powers and the odds were stacked against the oil producing countries themselves. The premise of the founding members was to entrench the fact that developing countries have sovereign rights. Their natural resources are more than just a convenience for others.
“Indeed the formation of OPEC was a brave act at the time and its role till today continues to demonstrate that braveness,” this was the conclusion of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the OPEC President, Diezani Alison Madueke at its 50th anniversary in 2010.
Nigeria joined the 12-member cartel in 1971 to take active position in decisions on global energy demand and supply issues alongside Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
“As a nation, we have contributed immensely to the objectives of the organization and have benefited accordingly,” Alison Madueke confessed five years ago.
But today, the story seems to be taken a different dimension, as the stakeholders suggest Nigeria’s exit from the cartel after 44 years of participation. This request was sequel to the inability of OPEC to protect its members from the crude oil price volatility.
Indeed, the concerned stakeholders comprises of top shots in the industry, officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and some past petroleum ministers who gathered in Lagos at the weekend, requested that Nigeria should quit OPEC without any fears, adding that the nation is capable of surviving outside OPEC.
The stakeholders gathered to celebrate the 80th birthday of First and two time former Group Managing Director (GMD), NNPC Chief Festus Marinho, with a topic: “Nigeria’s energy evolution-A glimpse at the future”. However, concentration was later shifted to the perceived ‘irrelevant’ OPEC membership and the role of NNPC in national building.
Chief Marinho was the first Nigerian Governor of OPEC between 1977 and 1979, when the nation’s oil business was just gathering momentum.
The stakeholders, who showered unquantifiable encomium on the “Maverick pioneer” (Marinho), further expressed fears that the cartel has been dominated by some larger oil producing countries that have formed a caucus within OPEC, even when a Nigerian is the President.
Nigeria’s minister of petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke is the OPEC president, and she is expected to drive the affairs of the group for the next one year.
The cartel actually surprised the world at its last 166th Meeting in Vienna Austria, when it decided to maintain its output quota amid serious calls for review of the demand and supply mechanism.
The former Minister of State (Petroleum) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia, wondered why OPEC has failed to take action to curtail the dwindling prices. He noted that the cartel had rescued the situation in the 1970s, 1998, 2008 but failed to take any action in the 2014-2015 price saga.
“It is instructive that OPEC did not intervene in November 2014, as it had done in 2008, in 1998 and on numerous occasions, to stem the price slide, by balancing the supply equation, even in the face of evident oversupply stemming from some 5 million additional barrels of United States (U.S) shale oil. Yesterday the OPEC basket was at $45 per barrel. Some experts predict that the price could go to as low as $30 or even $20 per barrel last seen in 1999.” He stated.
Ajumogobia, who had earlier led Nigerian delegation to OPEC, continued: “At the heart of the matter seems to be the desire of individual countries in OPEC, principally Saudi-Arabia and the Arab states within OPEC- excluding Libya, (Iran, Iraq, Qatar and UAE, to protect and maintain their market share through the organisation, as they have been doing, and individually selling their oil at discounted prices.
“Unfortunately, Nigeria, with zero excess capacity, is mere onlooker at the mercy of the two biggest producers in the world (U.S and Saudi Arabia)...”
“This conclusion however makes me seriously question the benefit of our continuing membership of the organisation in the absence of any protection or leverage whatsoever within the organisation”, He stated.
The Chairman, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Director, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Ibrahim Waziri, said: “Our continuous membership of OPEC is irrelevant. It is more of national sentiments than actually serving the course of Nigeria. What are we getting from OPEC that we cannot get outside OPEC? The cartel is controled by Saudi Arabia. It is completely distructive for us. The time has passed when these things make sense, let us have new thinking, let us think out of world, let us not be afraid to experiment.
The time for redundancy has passed, so, we should change what we are doing and move forward.”
The former Group Managing Director, NNPC, Funsho Kupolokun amid other six past GMD however raised hope about the industry and the performance of the NNPC.
Kopolokun said, “I feel totally unable to agree with that. If everybody pulls out of OPEC who told you that Saudi Arabia cannot pull out of OPEC, and if that happens, price will go back to $9 a barrel where we were in 20 years ago. Somebody has to do pumping up prices.”
Oyibo expressed fears that the oil prices may not bounce back soon, and therefore enjoined the government to exploit other mechanisms that would make the nation to be self-sufficient.
Obaseki lamented the delay in passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and urged the legislators to harmonise opinions and come together to build a truly industry bill.
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Top UN officials welcome negotiations as Member States discuss new sustainability agenda
Senior United Nations officials underlined the importance of the intergovernmental negotiations that got under way at UN Headquarters in New York on 19 January 2015 aimed at finalizing the post-2015 development agenda, as they addressed the General Assembly on Monday afternoon.
“Today marks the beginning of critical intergovernmental negotiations to finalize the post-2015 development agenda,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke alongside the President of the General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, and the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Martin Sajdik. “The world is watching and expectations are high.”
Stressing that Member States have the “extraordinary opportunity – and the responsibility” to adopt an inspiring set of sustainable development goals, ensure their adequate financing, address climate change and rigorously monitor progress leading to the planned-for transformation, Mr. Ban encouraged the Assembly to take advantage of a ‘seminal year’ to kick-start a new era of global sustainability.
He said it was time to realize the promise of the UN Charter: “to reaffirm faith in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small” and drew attention to his synthesis report, The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet designed to help guide negotiations by framing and bringing clarity to the post-2015 development agenda through six essential elements: dignity, people, prosperity, planet, justice and partnership.
The Secretary-General looked ahead to meetings in Addis Ababa to pave the ground for bold actions on financing and the global partnership for sustainable development, in New York to adopt the post-2015 development agenda and sustainability goals, and in Paris to adopt a legal framework for a climate change agreement.
As States embarked upon negotiation of the agenda’s final parameters, Mr. Ban said it was clearly necessary that it should include a compelling and principled narrative, based on human rights and human dignity, and that the Sustainable Development Goals should be at its core. Robust global partnership was needed to mobilize financing and other means of implementation and monitoring should be central.
“Let us demonstrate global citizenship, foresight, moral courage and political leadership as we reach final agreement on plans to support people, communities, societies and our beautiful planet,” he said, promising the support of the whole United Nations system throughout the process.
Mr. Kutesa, who opened the meeting, said the meeting was a chance to exchange views on the inputs for the negotiations, including that synthesis report and the proposal on the Sustainable Development Goals.
“With the proposed [sustainable development goals], it is now clear what Member States would like the post-2015 development agenda to achieve,” he said, adding that the focus on poverty eradication indicated that the agenda could be truly transformative. “In the coming months, Member States and stakeholders will consider how they intend to achieve these ambitious goals and targets.”
One aspect that will clearly differentiate the post-2015 development era centred on the sustainable development goals from the MDG era is that the newer targets are designed to be holistic and universal. States would have to ensure mobilization of adequate means of implementation, in the form of financial resources, technology development and transfer, and capacity building.
“The agenda we formulate should put people at the centre,” said Mr. Kutesa. “It should be responsive to and meet people’s needs and aspirations. It should preserve our planet for the present and future explanations.”
Mr. Sajdik said ECOSOC and the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development would work to promote an integrated approach to implementation of the post-2015 agenda. In particular, the Forum would provide political leadership, follow-up and recommendations on sustainable development commitments, notably the relevant goals, at the highest level.
“Let’s not forget one undisputable fact: from January 1, 2016 it is all about implementation!” he said, adding that the unprecedented scale of financing and other means of implementation needed for that implementation would require a renewed partnership for development.
In addition, he stressed that it was down to Government delegates to produce an agenda that can be communicated and re-communicated over the whole 15 years of its lifespan.
“Let us be strategic and visionary, capturing all the right elements and fitting them together effectively to holistically advance the post-2015 development agenda,” he said. “But let us also be realistic, building on what we already have and not trying to reinvent the wheel.”