Experts from West Africa to review progress towards the attainment of MDGs in the ECOWAS subregion
ECA Press Release No. 07/2011
Niamey, 02 February 2011 (ECA) – The Fourteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) of West Africa will be held by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Sub regional office for West Africa (SRO-WA) on 11-12 March, 2011 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Session, whose theme is “A Decade of the Implementation of the MDGs in West Africa: Achievements and Shortfalls”, will review the progress made by member States of the ECOWAS subregion in attaining the commitments under the Millennium Declaration. Following the ICE, an Ad Hoc Expert Group Meeting (AEGM) on Fragile States and Development will be held in collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone and the ECOWAS Commission.
The delegates at the 14th ICE will comprise senior officials from ministries in charge of finance, planning and economic development, as well as experts from West African Inter-Governmental Organisations and development partners. Their aim will be to share national experiences and develop strategies towards accelerating progress to ensure attainment of the MDG goals by 2015.
According to the SRO-WA Director, Madame Fatoumata Ba, “This review will be conducted against the observations of the United Nations Conference on MDGs in September 2010, which noted the slow progress in most countries in sub Sahara Africa.” She notes that the same UN conference called for the redoubling of national efforts to ensure that countries remain on target and adds: "The Conference also re-emphasized the importance of periodic reviews of progress to facilitate the timely development and implementation of the necessary remedial action to meet the 2015 Goals.”
Roundtable discussions on Fragile States and Development in West Africa and on the ECOWAS Community Development Programme will also be part of the proceedings at the ICE.
"Our expectation is that the discussions will come up with strategies for action to facilitate and accelerate socio-economic development in post-conflict and fragile state economies in the sub region as ECOWAS strives to implement its sub regional development programme," says Madame Ba. Key among the strategies will be the establishment of a sub regional framework to holistically deal with fragile states and post-conflict development challenges, she adds.
Background:
The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts is a subsidiary body of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and each sub regional office has such a committee. These committees meet once every year to review sub regional socio-economic developments and discuss pertinent sub regional development challenges so that these may be taken into account by ECA in the formulation and implementation of economic and social development programmes and policies across the continent. The 13th ICE of West Africa was organised in Dakar Senegal in March 2010 and reviewed the challenges of unemployment and vulnerability in the sub region. The other previous ICE meetings for West Africa were held in Niamey (1998, 2002, 2007 and 2008), Conakry (1999), Abuja (2000 and 2004), Dakar (2001), Banjul (2003), Ouagadougou (2005 and 2009) and Lomé (2006) and focused on pertinent themes at the time.
Ends
Issued by:
ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251-11-551 03 65 E-mail: [email protected]
1 of 2 3/5/2014 11:17 AM
Web: www.uneca.org
