Maravi

AU economic chief calls African countries to action

AU economic chief calls African countries to action
By Joan Chirwa
Thursday October 11, 2007 [04:00]

AFRICAN countries should urgently move from rhetoric to action for greater economic integration, African Union (AU) commissioner for Economic Affairs Dr Maxwell Mkwezalamba has advised. In his address to the 5th meeting of the Committee on Trade, Regional Co-operation and Integration, which ended yesterday in Addis Ababa, Dr Mkwezalamba noted that although there had been some progress on the integration agenda, the continent "could have achieved even more after four decades of efforts."

"I therefore call on African countries to now urgently move from rhetoric to action," said Dr Mkwezalamba.

Ethiopia's state minister for finance and economic development Mekonnen Manyazewal supported Dr Mkwezalamba's concerns, adding that the African regional integration area had been 'materially insignificant'.

He thus urged the Committee to undertake "candid soul-searching" on why progress had not been made in key areas to date and identify concrete actions for follow-up.

Regional integration was also top on the agenda during the last Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit held in Lusaka in August this year.

And in his opening speech, UN under-secretary general and executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Abdoulie Janneh highlighted the fact that Africa still faced tremendous challenges in advancing its integration agenda at all levels.

Janneh said there was no doubt that Africa had made some progress in its efforts to integrate its economies.

"Given the potential challenges likely to be faced by African countries as a result of bilateral and multilateral trade reforms, ECA will continue to put the strong capacities it has built on trade to the service of African countries in order to achieve the desired outcomes in the international trade negotiations," Janneh said.

"We will also continue to provide technical support to our member states in the EPA negotiations."

The Committee on Trade and Regional Cooperation and Integration is one of ECA's sectoral committees which meets on a biennial basis to review developments and issues pertaining to their respective development sectors, formulate policies and strategies to address Africa's development challenges, and advise the governments on sectoral work priorities to be reflected in the work programme of the Commission.

Labels: AU, REGIONAL INTEGRATION

posted by MrK @ 7:15 AM