African Heads of State Give more Impetus to NEPAD’s Implementation

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,  Senegalese President Macky Sal has been elected Chairperson of the Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), a high level body of twenty African leaders that provides leadership and policy guidance to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Mr Sal replaces the later former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi who served as Chairperson of the HSGOC for four years until he passed away in August 2012.

The grouping, which meets twice a year on the fringes of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, also sets priorities and the programmes of action for NEPAD.

A moment of silence in memory of Mr Meles was observed at the opening session, which was attended by several heads of state, representatives of regional economic communities and international organisations.

On his part, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn urged AU member states to reduce dependency on foreign aid for implementation of infrastructure development projects.

Hailemariam described his predecessor, the late Meles Zenawi as 'a symbol of Pan-Africanism' whose legacy is witnessed on the ground in Ethiopia.

He said Meles viewed NEPAD as a change- model in the management of Africa's relations with the international community.

President of Benin and Chairperson of the Africa Union, Boni Yayi called on the   need for Africa to scale up implementation of NEPAD priorities such as agriculture and infrastructure, and speed up the aspect of domestic resource mobilization to encourage less dependence on western funding.

NEPAD’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Ibrahim Mayaki presented the Agency’s Results-based Activity Report of July to December 2012, where he highlighted effort for sustaining the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)) momentum and the various tools and mechanisms for domestic resource mobilisation for the NEPAD programmes.

“The NEPAD Agency believes that the time has come to give new impetus to CAADP to meet legitimate expectations of member states while providing a clearer perspective and overall role for agriculture in the economic transformation of the continent. To support this transformation NEPAD has launched the Africa Rural Development Forum as platform for knowledge sharing on polices on rural transformation.” said Dr Mayaki.

CAADP has emerged as a key vehicle to diversify economies, grow agribusiness, ensure food security and thrive. It also stimulates access to finance, inputs and markets for smallholder farmers.

To sustain the its momentum, there’s a need to assess how non state actors can take ownership of the CAADP process by contributing to the development and implementation of agricultural policy in their respective countries.

Dr Dlamini Zuma pointed out that despite NEPAD’s achievements, there’s need to address challenges such as adequate resources and human capital, to implement NEPAD Programmes and Projects.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mohammed Mossi and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria have been elected Vice Chairpersons of the HSGOC Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritania and Libya, are the new countries that have joined the grouping.

                                                                            

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa