ECA and PAP Agree to Closer Working Relations and Capacity Building
ECA Press Release No. 35/2010
Addis Ababa, 14 May 2010 (ECA) - The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Pan African Parliament (PAP) today in Addis Ababa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) creating closer ties and working relationship between the two groups.
ECA Executive Secretary and UN Under Secretary-General Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, called the agreement an affirmation of ECA and PAP’s “shared values and interest in governance”
“We see PAP as an important organization and a pillar in the goal of governance on the continent,” he said.
PAP’s Third Vice President, Mr. Hammi Laroussi, said the MOU was part of the foundation for the building of Africa. “Here
we are united by our single objective of the integration of the African continent, its development and eliminating poverty.”
By the terms of the MoU, ECA will assist PAP in a number of areas including capacity building and development of parliamentary members and strengthening of the role of PAP within the AU system.
Specific areas of cooperation include transformation of PAP into a legislative body, regional integration and development, good governance and democracy and election observation.
Both organizations will implement a yearly programme of action.
In addition to the MOU signing, the PAP workshop which ended today generated a list of recommendations on how to improve the APRM process.
The Parliamentarians called on national government to create standing committees to facilitate the APRM process. They also called for the establishment of a strategic partnership between civil society and media with national parliaments to aid dissemination of the APRM, and the creation of an ad hoc committee that would follow up on APRM work and submit annual reports.
APRM is an instrument voluntarily adopted by African states to assess the quality and status of governance in the participating countries As an instrument for building broad-based consensus on the challenge of national development, the success of the APRM depends on the extent to which all the relevant stakeholders (Civil society organizations, media, trade unions, parliaments, women groups, etc.) fully participate in the process.
Issued by:
ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251-11-551 03 65
1 of 2 3/5/2014 9:20 AM
E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.uneca.org
