BuaNews (Tshwane)
Luyanda Makapela
30 June 2008
Sharm-El-Shaikh — Considerations for reviving the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Authority are underway.
Addressing the media during the official opening of the 19th NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) on Sunday, its Chairperson and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said reports prepared by NEPAD Secretariat indicated that ideas were under consideration as according to the mandate and architecture of the new Planning and Co-ordinating Committee.
"This is one of the major ways to assist the AU/NEPAD Technical Coordinating Unit in re-constructing and emplacing the structure in its deserved location in the African Union.
"With incorporating vision, priorities, activities and our structures into an aligned and stronger AU system with clear-cut description of role and responsibility will better the functioning of the body in future," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Zenawi.
Mr Zenawi said the summit will be incomplete without deliberations on the global crisis impacting on Africa.
This includes the escalating price of oil, which is approaching $150 threshold and devastating the economy.
"This requires us to work with other partners to address this challenge urgently," said Mr Zenawi.
With Africa's home-grown framework, Comprehensive African Agriculture Developmental Programme (CAADP), he said, the entire spectrum of agricultural production and productivity will also be addressed.
"Implementation of CAADP is within our control, through the appropriate decisions that we have taken at various African agricultural and AU Summits.
"Now is the time to speed up the implementation of the programme," the prime minister said.
Mr Zenawi said as delegates also discussed on the forthcoming G8 Hokkaido Summit in Japan , Africa needed to remain clear and focused on its expectations from this meeting and future summits.
"Our requests have been consistent in development partners to assist us in meeting well-identified resource gaps and capacity needs if efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals are to succeed," Mr Zewani said.
On Sunday, President Thabo Mbeki and a South African delegation arrived in Sharm-El-Shaikh, ahead of the AU Assembly of State and Government to be held on Monday.
This forms part of the ongoing 2008 AU Summit, held under the theme, "Meeting Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation".
During his visit to Sharm-El-Sheikh, President Mbeki participated in the 19th NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee Meeting and the 9th African Peer Review Forum on Sunday.
The South African delegation takes part in the AU Summit, Executive Council and NEPAD meetings within the context of South Africa's priority to strengthen institutions of governance on the continent with a view to advancing the political and economic developmental agenda of Africa.
The meeting is expected to be addressed by the Chair of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation Willem-Alexander, the Crown Prince of Orange and the Netherlands.
The NEPAD Head of State meeting discussed preparations for the forthcoming G8 Summit in Japan where new climate change protocols was drafted, among other things.
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