Coalition for dialogue on Africa to facilitate discussion on emerging issues

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Coalition for Dialogue on Africa to facilitate discussion on emerging issues

Addis Ababa, 06 March 2009 (ECA)– An independent forum for free discussion on Africa's emerging and pressing challenges was launched in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia today.

It is called the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) and is a joint venture of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and has the full support of the African Union Commission (AUC).

The inaugural meeting of the coalition began holding today and is expected to set priorities, determine and steer CoDA's activities.

Presenting the objectives of the coalition in a ceremony, the UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, said that CoDA would “combine the best elements of the Global Coalition for Africa , the Big Table and the African Development Forum.

These were all forums established in the 1990s to promote dialogue on Africa 's development, following the economic and governance crises the continent faced in the 1980s and 1990s. They had been motivated by concerns that the end of the Cold War would divert attention Africa 's urgent needs of the time, Mr. Janneh recalled.

The new initiative is a framework to help put order in the dialogue process in Africa by serving as an umbrella for all existing forums on Africa , Mr. Janneh explained.

The AfDB, UNECA and the African Union Commission (AUC) are pinning their hopes for the success of the CoDA on the quality of people it has on its advisory board, which is chaired by Mr. Festus Mogae, former president of the Republic of Botswana . The Chairman of the African Union Commission, Mr Jean Ping; the Executive Secretary of the UNECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh and the President of the African Development Bank, Mr. Donald Kaberuka are ex-officio members of the Coalition.

Several other internationally renowned personalities are members of the CoDA initial advisory board. They include: Dr. Cheick Modibo Diarra, Chairman, Microsoft Middle East and Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa; Mr. Walter Fust, CEO/Director General, Global Humanitarian Forum,; Dr. Frene Ginwala, Former Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa; Mr. Mo Ibrahim, Chair, Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Dr. Spciosa Wandira Kazibwe, former Vice President of the Republic of Uganda; Mr. Martin Khor, Director, Third World Network; The Right Honourable, Mr. Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada; and Mr. Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Alexandria, Egypt.

Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily, former Minister of the Republic of Senegal was the convener of the launching ceremony that was chaired by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia .

The board will determine its own terms of reference, operational modalities, including the various forms of policy dialogue and how to translate agreed outcomes into concrete actions.

Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001

Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251 11 5510365 E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org