TRAINING AND RESEARCH INSTITUTES
I. We, the African Ministers responsible for economic development and planning, assembled at the fifteenth meeting of the ECA Conference of Ministers/twenty-fourth session of the Economic Commission for Africa, have recognized the important role that African demographic training and research institutes have played and continue to play in the training of high-level specialists in population questions and in the promo
tion of related research.
2 We have also recognized the increasing importance of population questions in development planning and the obvious interest shown by African Governments in these matters and more specially, in the satisfaction of the basic needs of their population.
3 We have further recognized the need to train sufficient numbers of demographers fully conversant with the continent's problems and to promote research work on popula
tion questions in Africa.
4. We are therefore gravely concerned by the critical financial situation of the African demographic training and research institutes caused by the insufficiency and
irregularity of member States' contributions.
5. We, accordingly, strongly appeal to the Governments served by these institutes to clear up their arrears and regularly pay in their contributions.
6. We express our appreciation to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and ECA for their continued support for the institutes and urge them to maintain such support so that the institutes may continue their training activities and develop those
related to research.
Annex VI
REPORT OF THE JOINT MEETING OF THE ECA CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING AND
AFRICAN MINISTERS OF FINANCE Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 10 April 1989
jptroduction
1 The Joint Meeting of the ECA Conference of Ministers responsible for economic
development and planning and the Conference of African M*""*6™,0; ^'nan" ^*JJf!°
at the headquarters of the Commission in Addis Ababa, on 10 April 1989. The meeting was held at the instance of the African Ministers of Finance who, at their third meeting held in Biantyre, Malawi, had decided that they would join their colleagues the Ministers responsible for economic development and planning to consider the African Alternative to Structural Adjustment Programmes (AA-SAP): A Framework for Transformation and Recovery (E/ECA/CM.15/6/Rev.2) and adopt it jointly. The meeting was formally opened by Comrade Yusuf Ahmed, Member of the Central Committee of the Workers
Party of Ethiopia and Vice-President of the State Council. Statements were also delivered at the opening ceremony by Mr. Adebayo Adedeji, Executive Secretary of ECA and Mr. J. Haggag, Assistant Secretary-General of the OAU. The Minister of Planning of Kenya moved a vote of thanks to the Party, Government and people of
Ethiopia on behalf of all the delegations.
Opening addresses
2. Comrade Yusuf Ahmed, Member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia and Vice-President of the State Council, formally opened the meeting. He recalled that the Lagos Plan of Action had been an embodiment of Africa's hopes and aspirations, but its objectives had remained largely unrealized. He deplored the fact that the region had been going through a period of unprecedented socio-economic crisis despite the numerous development strategies it had adopted as reflected not only in the Lagos Plan of Action, but also in the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development, 1986-1990 (UN-PAAERD), and the various structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) introduced by several countries.
3. He observed that there had been a growing concern about the appropriateness of the SAPs in the context of the region's socio-economic realities. According to him, the programmes had neglected the region's long-term development and entailed problems of far-reaching consequences such as rising unemployment and reduced expenditure on social sectors. He claimed that the frailty of the region's economies, the horrendous crisis it was faced with and its appalling backwardness would warrant the urgent introduc tion of new alternative structural adjustment programmes. He believed that those should mirror the region's pecularities, accord due attention to social dimensions, remove structural rigidities and promote increased production with a focus on food self-sufficiency. He lauded ECA's initiative as regards AA-SAP and said that this should merit the unreserved support of all countries. He concluded by calling upon the international community to assist in its implementation.
4. The Executive Secretary placed particular accent on three salient issues. The first of these centred mainly on the preparatory work and intellectual inputs that had gone into the formulation of AA-SAP. The second pertained to the basic characteristics of AA-SAP. The third encompassed the follow-up measures which should be taken by African countries. With regard to the first issue, he pointed out that a long and arduous process of consultation and consensus building had taken place prior to drawing up the
•£j i Proposals. Those consultations had involved an international workshop of reputed
economists; the commissioning of 24 case studies; national technicians in planning and(IepcowT I^hT^ I TV^ed TeChniCaI PreParat^y Committee of the Whole
ITEPCOW). In add.t.on, the Mm.sters responsible for finance and economic development and planning had made substantial contributions to the proposals.
5. The first characteristic of AA-SAP was the fact that it constituted merely a flexible and pragmatic framework for African countries to use in formulating national programmes
^ I", "n^uctm9 constructive dialogue with development partners. That being so the AA-SAP proposals were consonant with the objectives of the Lagos Plan of Action and the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UN-PAAERD). Another feature of AA-SAP, he said, was its focus on peoples welfare and stabilization objectives. Talking about the policy directions needed he contended that these would revolve around (a) strengthening and diversification of production capacity; (b) the level of income and its distribution; and (c) the pattern
of expenditure. r
6. He emphasized that the success of AA-SAP would hinge upon a number of subsequent measures. To begin with, he said there should be popular participation in AA-SAP imple mentation at the grass-root level. Secondly, increased solidarity should be forged amonq individual countries. Finally, a strong bond of co-operation must exist between African countries and the international donor community to whom he appealed for assistance.
He called on African countries to enter the coming decade with unflinching determination to attack the root causes of their economic problems. Finally, he expressed his gratitude to the Governments of Malawi and Ethiopia for their hospitality as well as for their
unreserved support.
7. The Assistant Secretary-General of the OAU commended the efforts made by ECA the African Ministers of Finance and the ECA Conference of Ministers to formulate AA-SAP. He stressed, however, that AA-SAP would be a significant milestone if African countries were able to use it as a basis for drawing up their development plans and ensured its accelerated implementation. In that context, he stated that one of the vehicles for ensuring its rapid implementation was to mobilize resources internally and externally and to utilize those judiciously. In order for that to happen, he argued, there should be well-designed and fundable development programmes at the national level.
6. He expressed his apprehension that the donor community might find AA-SAP's pro posals distasteful and decline to finance development programmes emanating from them. He hoped that that situation would probably not arise, given the fact that the initiative for drawing up and executing national development programmes within the framework of AA-SAP constituted essentially the sovereign right of African countries.
He underscored the necessity for the donor community to view such programmes in this light and consider them for funding favourably. He attached tremendous significance to the meeting as this provided a forum for consultations and dialogue on matters pertain ing to ongoing and prospective development approaches including structural adjustment
programmes.
9. The representative of Kenya expressed his sincere gratitude to the distinguished ministers for having been conferred upon the privilege and honour to move a vote of thanks on their behalf. Referring to the speech made earlier by Comrade Yusuf Ahmed, he said that that was thought-provoking and could make substantial contributions to
the deliberations of the meeting.
10. He reminded the meeting that considerable groundwork had been done on the theme being considered. He recollected that it had been rigorously examined by the African
meeting.