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ECA Press Release No. 05/2003
AFRICAN MINISTERS TO DISCUSS MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Addis Ababa, 22 May 2003 (ECA): African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development are to meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 1 June to discuss how the international development system can more effectively aid Africa's battle against poverty.
Their discussions will focus on three topics:
Mutual Accountability, Policy Coherence and Development Effectiveness;
Making the International Monetary Fund Work Better for Africa; and The Macroeconomic Implications of HIV/AIDS.
A meeting of the Committee of Experts will precede the Conference from 29 - 30 May. In addition to the Ministers, more than 500 participants - including central bank governors, leading academics and researchers, and international partners - are expected to attend.
The 2003 Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) under the theme Towards greater policy coherence and mutual accountability for development effectiveness.
The theme has been chosen to provide an opportunity for African Ministers and senior African policymakers to develop African positions on policy coherence and harmonization towards enhancing development effectiveness, as well as to the current discussions over the future role of the IMF in Africa.
The 1 June Conference is being held back-to-back with the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (ADB), at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa. The two institutions will jointly sponsor the Annual Meetings Symposium, to be held on 2 June and previously a hallmark of the ADB Annual Meetings. The theme of this year's Symposium is "Poverty Reduction, Social Development, and the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Are We Making Progress on the Ground?". The ADB Annual Meetings will take place from 3 - 5 June.
African Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ministers are key policymakers for both the ADB and ECA.
In the past, these policymakers were obliged to travel to two separate meetings at different times of the year, a situation that affected attendance and worked against the development of coherent African positions. Holding the meetings successively provides more time for the Ministers and other stakeholders to discuss and chart new policy initiatives. Back-to-back meetings also allow these senior policy makers to agree on strategy in time for crucial negotiations at international for a, such as the annual meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions.
In recent years, the ECA Conference of Ministers has provided a forum for agreement on strategy in tackling key challenges facing the continent. Last year's meeting, held in South Africa, was the largest gathering of key Ministers dealing with economic policy in Africa on NEPAD since its endorsement by African leaders. At that meeting, Ministers were unified in their call for action, and outlined detailed proposals for how NEPAD could best be moved forward.
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For the Issues Paper, Programme of Work, and other documents related to this year's Conference, visit www.uneca.org/conferenceofministers
Documents from previous conferences, including Ministerial Statements, are also available at the same site.
Issued by the ECA Communication Team P.O. Box 3001
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Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-51 58 26 Fax: +251-1-51 03 65 E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org
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