ECONOMIC AND

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Distr.

GENERAL

E/ECA/CM,11/15 15 February 1985 Original : ENGLISH

ECONOMIQUE COMMISSION FOR AFRICA Sixth meeting of the Technical

Preparatory Committee of the Whole

Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, 15-22 April 1985

Item 9 of the provisional agenda*

ECONOMIQUE COMMISSION FOR AFRICA Twentieth Session of the Commission

and Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of Ministers

Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, 25-29 April 1985

Item 11 of the provisional agenda*

FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS ON RESOLUTIONS AND DECISIONS ADOPTED BY THE NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE COMMISSION AND TENTH

MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS

E/ECA/TPCW.6/l/Rev.l

E/ECA/CM.ll/l/Rev.1

385-520

E/ECA/CM.11/15

The nineteenth session of the Commission and tenth meeting of the Conference of Ministers which was held at Addis Ababa,Ethiopia, from 24 to 28 May 1984 adopted more than 40 resolutions embracing all sectors of socio-economic deve

lopment. Among them, 10 were specifically addressed to tite..General Assembly of

the United Nations through the ficbhomic and Social Council, appealing for in

creased assistance tfo enable the Commission toJcarryout its increased respon- ;

siLiliti-es in the context of the critical economic ajld social situation in

Africa. The actidn taken oh these resolutions will fee reoorted In a separate ■ document. The majority of the other resolutions appealed to States members of

the Commission, to the Executive Secretary and to organs.of the United Nations and other organizations to take certain measures with a view to the implement ation of the decisions of the Conference of Ministers. ; The purpose of this ■•,-;

document is therefore to give a brief account of the various actions taken towards the implementation of the following resolutions: ;

",J; - ■■■■•!>£■■ ■" ■"': ; ' - ';,[."- Resolution 487 (XIX): United Nations Transport and Communications Decade

in Africa , ,

1 '' ' ' '■-■.■';■■■ : '■ f ■ r,

Operative paragraph 14(a) of the resolution calls on the Executive Secretary;

to collaborate with other United Nations specialized agencies and African inter governmental organizations in jointly organizing co-financingmeetings involving appropriate number of donors for certain regional projects and transport cor

ridor projects. , i .;:■..-

Pursuant to the above, the sixth technical consultative meeting on broad casting was held from 4 to 6 June 1984 in Harare, Zimbabwe, The 88 projects considered in that meeting consistedof "rehabilitation and maintenance, train ing, technical assistance, regional and national projects", all estimated at about $393 million.

Donors indicated interest in financing $59.7 million worth of projects, r

which is equivalent to 16,2 per c§nt of total financing. Taking; into account the 20 per cent already secured or earmarked before the meeting, about 36 per cent of the broadcasting programme has secured funding.

Operative paragraph 14 (b) requests the Executive Secretary to intensify contacts with, many donor countries and financial institutions to promote the Decade programme. As a result c meeting was organized with the participation

of the following financial institutions: t;hej World Bank; the African Develop-'

ment^Bank; -Banque de develbpoement des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale; the Fund of the Economic Community of West African States; the Fund of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; the Banque ouest-africaine de d&veloppement and the following African intergovernmental organizations: the Economic

Community of West African States; the Ministerial Conference of West and Central African States on Maritime Transport and the Organization of African Unity. This meeting considered and adopted ways and means of oromoting the financing of the Decade programme. ,

E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 2

Contacts with individual donors have been made on an ad hoc basis, especially during and before the technical consultative meetings. Full-scale sensitization

missions to donor countries and international financial institutions are pending

the adoption of a resolution on the Decade by the United Nations General Assembly, through which funds could be made available to ECA .

Operative paragraph IS of the resolution further requests the Executive

Secretary to assist" African'countries in prompt follow-un of the interest expressed by donors in^ 'financing projects 4uri"g the technical consultative

meetings by preparing, relevant project documents in bankable formats for the

various donbrs. . , r ■

Pursuant to'this, EGA has consulted the World Bank and the Inter-American '■

Development Blank and has acquired useful information on such formats; The usfe ' of these formats in assisting African countries shall naturally follow technical '

consultative meetings and provisions of funds by the Secretary-General of the

United Nations as requested in operative paragraph 11 of the*resolution,.whifch

is still being considered by the^General Assefflbiyr

Operative paragraph 10 requests the Secretary-General to provide EGA with

additional funds to enable it complete the implementation of activities mandated in paragranh $ of General Assembly resolution 38/150. >-}. ■

Resolution 489 (XIX): Regional training institutes •:>■>- .;

The resolution calls on African Governments to pay more attention to the institutions and nay their contributions. So far tlje-response has been noor.

The UNFPA Governing Council considered the resolution with regard to continued support for the training institutions. Sinnort is to be exnected: but without^ ■

increase in the current level of funding. ■ . v ■ ! "!

A proposal for amendment to the statutes is awaiting reactions of the

Legal Office in order to revise the scale of cqntributipns. On middle level training collaboration Exists with the institutes. The .forthcoming Governing -•

Councils will handle the matter of harmonizing curricula. The prospect for ■ contributions from other donors is not encouraging but attempts could be made

by TACOO. .

Resolution 490 (XIX): Infrastructure post for Population Division

UNFPA took a firm stand against funding the posts. Therefore posts should

be obtained either from General Assembly or in the framework of decentralizatioh.

E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 3

Resolution 503 (XIX): Measures for the effective implementation of the Substantial New Programme of Action in the African

i- Least developed countries

In accordance with operative paragraph 1 of resolution 503 (XIX), the following countries had organized Roundtable Conferences:

;... Comoros, 2-4 July 1984; the Gambia 27-30 November 1984; Guinea-Bissau 21-23 May 1984; and Lesotho 14-17 May 1984.

pth#r; countries, whose Roundtable meetings are tentatively scheduled before the Global Mid-term Review in September/October 1ST3, are: Burkina Fasp (April 1985), Central African Republic (mid-1985), Guinea (first half of 1985), the Niger (mid 1985), Sierra Leone (first half of 1985 mini-roundtable), and Togo (May 1985).

Allr the African LDCs have designated National Focal Points for the

monitoring and follow-un of the implementation of the SNPA at the country level.

.Those ^PCs that have organized review meetings have established local aid co ordination groups for the follow-up of commitments made by the donor community at their respective roundtables (refer to operative paragraph 3 of the same resolution).

... " ■ .. ; ■ v n l i "■

As part of the preparatory process for the Global Mid-Term Review Meeting

in 1985, UNDP convened a meeting of African LDCs Ministers responsible for'co operation, Planning and development to evaluate the roundtabie exnerience in

the African region and to make recommendations aimed at improving the roundtable process. The meeting was held in Cotonou-, Benin with the Government of Benin as hp$t?and was attended by 15 African countries, (14 of which are LDCs) UNDP, UNCTAD, ECA, .the.(Vest African Development Bank, and the Guaranty Fund of OCAM.

The Ministers adopted the following recommendations relating to:

(a) The definition and setting up of an institutional framework as a prerequisite for .the launching of a roundtable;

(b) The establishment of a permanent mechanism that takes as a whole all sequences of the roundtable;

(c) The strengthening of the means of support to those governments which organize; roundtables;

(d) The establishment of an interrelation between roundtable conferences

and objectives of the national

(e) , The notification aad strengthening of the process to better fulfil

donors1 and developing countries1 objectives;

(f) The improvement of the effectiveness of UNDP's role as a lead agency

and as provider of critical technical co-operation.

E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 4

The ministers requested UNDP to include the conclusions and recommendations

of the meeting in UNDp!s contribution to the mid-term review of the SNPA in

September/October 1935 0

In the same context, ECA, in compliance with operative paragrrm^ 2 of

resolutions 503 (XIX) and 529 (XIX), had prepared "Guidelines for the evaluation

and assessment of review meetings held in African LDCs in the context of the

SNPA in the 1980s", The guidelines will enable the respective national focal

points to prepare country specific assessment of their roundtable conference/

consultative group meetings and to forward same to the ECA secretariat. These

responses will constitute -n input into the secretariat's regional evaluation and assessment of the implementation of the SNPA in the African region. A con sultant has already been recruited to assist the LDCs Section of the Socio- Economic Research and Planning Division (SERPD) in preparing the paper for the fifth meeting of the Conference of Ministers of African LDCs and the Global Mid- Term Review exercise in 1985. The study will throw some light on the measures identified in operative paragraphs 6, 7, 8 and 9 from both the recipient govern

ments and the donor communityrs standpoint*.

With respect to onerative paragraph 5, ECA was requested by the Governments of Benin and Mali to assist in the preparation of economic recovery plans in the context of the SNPA as a post-review meeting measure to implement the tiro- graames and projects submitted to their respective roundtables. An ECA mission was in Benin in October 1984 and a similar mission is currently in Mali.

Under a UNDP-sponsored fellowship, the Development Secretary of hhe Ministry of Economic Development and Planning (Focal Point for the SNPA) of Sierra Leone paid a working visit to the ECA secretariat in early November 1984. The programme was co-ordinated by the LDCs section of SERPD and it involved the substantive Divisions of the secretariat. The visit was part of the sensitization missions in connection with the forthcoming Roundtable meeting to be organized by Sierra

Leone and its main objective was to afford the Development Secretary an opportun

ity to gain an insight into the operations of the secretariat, particularly the technical assistance and advisory services component of the ECA programme of work.

This will enable the Government of Sierra Leone to address a request for technical

assistance within the competence of ECAO

In the framework of paragraphs 118 and 119 of the SNPA, the secretariat is now preparing the next meetings of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts and Conference of Ministers of African LDCs. It is hoped that during the meetings the countries will adopt o. common position preparatory to the mid-term global review meetings, particularly with respect to the adjustment of the programme in ord?r to ensure its successful implementation during the next half of the

1980s.

" -w*>-. ..i ii t, urn ana* i.\ --^

E/ECA/CM.11/15

Page 5

Resolution 505 fXIXI: Strengthening ECA as an executing apencv

As a follow-'Up-to the above resolution,; the; secretariat has, succeeded;

partially in getting improvement - in the regulations"concerning tfie procurement

of equipment. In this connection, the authority to purchase Really has increas ed from $US2,500 to $5,000 and the ECAContrac^s Committee's power was raiseT

from $20,000 to $40,000. Although the secretariates still striving to have

^ S~^ decentralization of purchasing authority from United Nations Headquarters a great step was accomplished during the year under review. "quarters

^re?5^ t0 the;authority to recruit: senior project nersonnel in and - 2^1 Z™ regl°n' ^e secretariat is still, negotiating with United .,

Headquarters to get these procedures fully decentralized to ECA. : . Resolution 506 (XIX): Kilimanjaro Programme, of Action, . . . .

in the Mexico..Conference referred to the Kilimanjaro Pro-

Tr-?? ^6d ^ SS aninpUt £0t the Meiico ^commendations Ld

declaration. The Kilimanjaro Programme of Action was duly taken into consideration in designing the 1986-1987 ECA relation programme. l£ .

either^ thffor?^11 ^ .tO ^T t0 the neXt ^ ConferenC; o^Ministers

either m the form of a separate agenda item or as part of his report or.state-

of St!e

Resolution 510 (XIX): Increasing resource allocation jtofo^*^

agriculture in Afri'ta and declining nerformance

of the sector Tt ■ "~~ ~" — ~~

taken^hJ^r "affaDh 2 of this resolution calls upon member States to-under-

of Ministers It uFll—?* "«ti«»al 1^,1 and report thereon to the Coherence _{uin v V} eleventh session. The Conference of Ministers Kill, hope-

s^issstjrS^^r st*t st*tes - 2

of

^arag!aph 3 of this resolution requests the Executive Secretary

era

E/EC7CM,!l/;5

Page 6 ,

being the lead agency, FAO should nlay a major role in carrying out this

exercise in support of country level effort.

Unfortunately, only one request has been so far received from a member State. This came from the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"

would like assistance in undertaking a comprehensive review of its agricultural

sector in the context of its current plan.

The study should also come up with new pronosals which can be incorporated in the next Plan which is under prenaration.

The Libyan request was massed on to the DirectoivGeneral of F*0 so that it can be scrutinized by. the FAO Technical, Division,: The FAO Director-General- f was also requested to indicate how best the two organizations might collaborate xn assisting the Government of Li>ya in this endeavour.

Resolution 511 fXIXl: African Women and the World Conference to Review *nA . ,r, : AppraisiTthe Achievements of the United Nations Decadd

, for Women: Equality, Development _and_Peace^ (1976-198ti

SiT? "PaJa*rat>h 2 expressed its gratitude for the offer made by the

? 1C 2*'^"i' tO h°St the Regional Intergovernmental Preparatory

2V0^d £°nf?,rence t0 Revie» *»<* Appraise the Achievement of Se ''

Z, ? t HOmeni E^ualit^ Development and Peace/TMrd Regional tne Integration of Women in Development at Arusha, Septemberl984,

^^-"-f^a' TanZania fr°m 8"12 October 1984-; ^ePmeetihg was ..

of tILI • UUS Kambara«e NVewre, President of the United Republic Rp^«S?i--*^^P* ^U^ °n Afl>ican member States to fully sum>ort the

Regional^Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting/third Regional Conference and ensure their most effective and high level participation at the Conference.

crc,^J^ the meting was high, a total of 39 member States out "of

51- States attended. Observers included 11 United Nations agencies, 18 non governmental organizations (NGOs) and nine American and European States. The governments participants included ministers, members of central committees,

heads of women organizations.

paragraph 6 called again upon; the secretariats of fiCA and OAU

T^H/ t0 W*m J°intly J*« Regional- Intfergovemmental ird; Regional Conference.

The meeting was organized jointly with OAU and all documents bore the

t-In0^^10"5' ^ Executive Secretary of ECA, Prof. Adebayo

ftd Mr. Allouane, Deputy Secretary-General of OAU participated in the

_{... ■ -?-•}

.E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 7

Operative, paragraph 7 urged the Regional Intergovernmental Preparatory kMeeting/Third Regional Conference to consider and adon strategies for the

implementation of measures for the advancement of African women by the year . 2000, especially strategies concerning women under apartheid, refugee and dis

placed women, women in agriculture and food production, and women in industrial development; these strategies should be submitted to the Conference of Ministers at its eleventh meeting through the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa.

The Regional Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting adopted the Arusha Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women in Africa beyond the United Nations Decade for Women. This important document was first reviewed by an Expert Group which held its meeting also in Arusba from 4 to 6 October

1984.. The strategies indicate an integrated approach to the issue of women. Its maj^n thesis is that women's problems cannot be viewed separately from the overall development strategy of the continent. IVhile adhering to the principles of the Lagos Plan of Action the strategies nevertheless select priority areas for con

certed, action which include apartheid, refugee and displaced women, agriculture

and food production, women and the Industrial Development Decade for Africa ... (IDDA), education and human resources -t health and environment. The strategies

will be submitted to the eleventh meeting of the ECA Conference of Ministers.

Operative paragraph 1 urged member States of ECA to provide the subregional committees, and the Africa Regional Co-ordinating Committee with the necessary financial resources and support in order to implement the relevant programmes adoated.

Operative paragraph 5 called upon member States to contribute to the Special Trust Fund,for the 1985 World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women in order, inter alia, to facilitate the participation of least developed member countries in the Regional Intergovern mental Preparatory Meeting and the World Conference.

As can be seen, these operative paragraphs call unon member States to con tribute towards the effective functioning of structures set up to promote women's programmes and towards the special Trust Fund set up for che World Conference in

1985 to be held in Nairobi. After the Regional Intergovernmental Meeting, a donor Round Table on Assistance to Women in Africa was organized by ECA on

13 October 1984, The donor representatives indicated chat their individual -policies will consider the Arusha Strategies. They also indicated that they +t

■will consider possibilities to more effectively respond to the specific con cerns of African women.

Resolution 512 (XIX); Women and development in Africa: Mobilization of

human and financial resources for the ECA Women's

- Programme beyond the United Nations Decade for Women

! was filso adopted on' 26 Hay 1-984 by the tenth meeting of the ECA Conference1, of Ministers.

Operative paragraph 1 appealed to member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that more women are recruited or promoted particularly to senior level and decision-making positions in the United Nations system.

E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 8

Operative paragraph 2 urged member States of ECA to provide the subregional committees and the African Regional Co-ordinating Committee for the Integration of Women in Development with the necessary financial resources and support in order to strengthen their role as African intergovernmental organizations and subsidiary organs of the Commission.

In the May issue of ATRCW Update, a newsletter of the African Training and Research Centre for Women (ATRCW) the vacant posts in ECA and United

Nations Headquarters, New York were listed so that member States, in particular women, could apply for these posts. In the same newsletter the main recommend ations of resolutions 511 and 512 were disseminated for apnro^riate action by

the member States. ' -—

Operative paragraph 3 requested member States to ensure that middle and senior level wpmen are given every opportunity for training in the techniques of project design, management and follow-up.

Operative paragraph 5 requested national machineries for the integration of women in development and the relevant departments of planning to ensure that projects involving women are integrated in national development plans and take into full account the needs of poor urban and rural women.

The ATRCW has organized national as well as subregional workshops on pro ject formulation management and follow-up both in French- and English-speaking countries. These are continuing in 1985. In collaboration with the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute [ESAMI) ten weeks courses are organized each year to consider women and development planning.

Operative paragraph 4 called upon African States and Governments with quali fied personnel to make available such personnel to assist other countries in the spirit of collective self-reliance and technical co-operation among developing countries (TCDC) called for in the Lagos Plan of Action.

The African Women's Development Task Force Project of ATRCW is designed to mobilize African skilled women and men to give short-term assistance in countries Other than their own in Africa. In this context, the ATRCW has now developed a project entitled "Assistance technique aux femmes africaines des regions sinistre*es par la secheresse". Subject to availability of funding the project is designed to urgently bring 50 qualified women and men to assist drought-stricken areas suffering from famine in the five most seriously affected countries: Ethiopia Mozambique, Chad, Mali, Mauritania. The project is to begin early in 1985.

Operative paragraph 6 urged the Secretary-General of the United Nations and

the Executive Secretary of ECA to do all in their power to provide a core group

of posts from regular budget resources, through the redeployment of vacant posts

and the 1986-1987 regular budget submission, to the African'Training and Research

Centre for Women and the MULPOC women's programmes to ensure their long-term

viability beyond the United Nations Decade for Women.

E/ECA/CM.11/15 ... . Page 9

ECA was successful in having resolution 512 operative paragraph 6 endorsed by ECOSOC during its second regular session of 1984, This same provision was eventually slightly amended and endorsed by the Third Committee in November 1984.

The thirty-ninth session of the General Assembly adopted the resolution which

reads:

"Further requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Executive Secretaries of the five regionail-coramissions, to allocate sufficient budgetary resources to staff, including where possible by redeployment, within the context of the 1986-1987 programme budget in order to regularize all temporary and permanent senior posts at the regional commissions, before the end of the Decade, in order to

allow for the integration of policies and programmes concerning women...11 ' Operative paragraph 8 called upon the United Nations Development Programme, the Voluntary Fund of the United Nations Decade forWomen and all the other United Nations agencies to increase their efforts to provide technical assist ance to African women including appropriate training, scholarships and consult ancy services, and to ensure that this assistance is delivered in a timely and

effective manner. 7

Operative paragraph 9 strongly requested the Executive Secretary of the . Economic Commission for Africa to redouble his efforts to increase the number ot African women in the Commission, especially at the policy and decision- ",

making levels. . i

As mentioned in the last paragraph concerning the implementation of re solution 511 (XIX) the first step in implementing the provisions of paragraphs

L^JliiL™ 17 a!!^11!1?^^5 Hffn"*he organization of the Donor Roundtable

formulation

Resolution 513 (XIX"): Fourth All-Africa Trade Fair

— —-^i^——_ ■ , ,

The International Trade and Finance Division held consultations with the Togolese Government (host government) through the Chairman of the Organizing Committee with a view to defining ECA's technical support for the fourth All- Africa Trade Fair. He was informed of the nature of assistance from ECA which will be in the form of technical back-up for the organization of workshops and/

or seminars on trade promotion issues during the Fair. Steps were taken to ensure that necessary budgetary provisions were made for OAU's assistance

hv tn! n?u^ A1?;Afri^ Trade Fair« To ^is end, a resolution was adopted

! J;TC11 °JJ*\nxsters ensuring assistance to the hot ^{^ T} nd, a resolution was adopted t D

of th! ™aJ;T JJ*\nxsters ensuring assistance to the host country. Details

?♦«» r .Ji Udget iraPleme**ation are being worked out by the OAU Consult

ative Committee*

E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 10

Resolution 514 (XIX): Association of African Trade Promotion Organizations The resolution requested ECA to assist the Association of African Trade Promotion Organizations (AATPO) in securing necessary resources for its Bro- gramme development and implementation. Due to its tight financial situation, ECA was not in a position to give direct assistance to AATPO, However, efforts were intensified to identify,donors willing to grant resources to this organiz ation. To this end, since.many, donor countries are presently channelling their assistance for trade promotion through the:International Trade Centre

(ITC) in Geneva, the Division prepared;a policy-paper on the issue (E/ECA/OAU/

TRADE/17) and recommenced that member countries^should take the necessary measures for the strengthening of AATPO by paying their arrears of contribu tions and formally requesting ITC and donors to assist the Association. At the same time, proposals have also been made in the 1986 programme budget of the newly created the Federation of African Chambers of Commerce through which the Secretariat of AATPO could implement the Federation's trade, investment promo tion and training programmes through subcontracting with funds allocated by

the Federation. , ■; :

Resolution 515 (XIX): Establishment of the Federation of African Chambers

of Commerce

^ jesplutipn called uppn>the African Governments to give full support to their national ,associations of. chambers,of commerce and t6r designate without further delay one national representative to participate at the Inaugural

Meeting of the Federation of African Chambers of Commerce. The response of the African Governments was very positive^and encouraging. The inaugural meeting was duly; held from 17 to 19 September 1984 at which 29 countries participated, put of these, 24 countries signed the Constitution thereby enabling the Federation to come into force. Several other countries also indicated their intention to sign the Constitution as soon as possible. Egypt was selected as the headquarters of the Federation and an agreement is expected to be signed on this in 1985. In,the^meantime, the ECA secretariat is acting as an Interim Secretariat of the Fe^SratTon. ' The Governing Council of the Federation was elected and held its ;first meeting soon after the inaugural meet ing and adopted its Rules of Procedt^re. A meeting of the Bureau of the Federation was held in January 1984 a^las, .required by its Constitution, the second meeting cf the ^pvernUhg Council was held in, Addis Ababa in March 1985 to consider its programme budget for 1986 and the Draft Medium-Term Plan 1986-1991.

Resolution 516 (XIX): Development of intra-African trade j

.-.; T? Conference of Ministers invited member States of ECA to promote intra AfriCan trade and to facilitate such trade by the removal of tariff and1 non- tariff'bartiers. To this end, the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) launched its

r. stars sssisr'SKa ^s~

E/HCA/CM,11/15 Page 11

These institutions would greatly facilitate intra-PTA trade. A study on border trade was completed for selected countries in the Younde-based MULPOC and another one is being implemented for the Niamey-based MULPOC. ECA also co-operated

with the Arab Bank for Economic Development * in Africa (BADEA) in the examin ation of some of the activities in the field of intra-African trade and finance which needed financial supnort. As a means of assisting to promote trade in Central Africa, UNDP approved a project for assistance to the Economic Community

of Central African States (ECCAS) to support that organization to build up its

institutional framework in order to develop intra-African trade. In addition, assistance was given to the Central African Clearing House strengthening its activities through a seminar for the member countries!' This resolution was also forwarded to the UNDP Governing Council drawing its attention to the re quest of the member States to continue its support for the development of intra-African trade.

Resolution 517 (XIX): OAU and ECA assistance to African countries in international negotiations

This resolution called upon the secretariats of EGA and OAU to assist

African countries in preparing for international negotiations, to support the African countries during such negotiations, and to make an assessment of the achievements made during each international conference. Pursuant to this re

solution, the ECA secretariat provided assistance to the African Group

participating in the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD as well as- other sectoral group meetings such as the Economic Co-operation amonig Developing Countries (ECDC) and the Generalized System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) among developing countries. The ECA secretariat has played a leading role in assist ing in the ACP^-EEC negotiations. It prepared a number of technical papers for

the African Group in the ACP and provided technical backstopping to the series of ministerial meetings and the negotiations for the ACP-EEC Lome III Convention

which was signed in Lome in December 1984* The secretariat also provided advis ory services to the Meeting of the Working Party of African Governors of the

World Bank and the International Monetary Fund which was held in Addis Ababa -in

July/August 1D84B A full assessment of the results of UNCTAD VI and its implic ations on Africa's future development was duly prepared jointly by ECA and OAU

and was considered by the .Third Meeting of the Follow-up Ministerial Committee

on Trade and Finance for African Development which was held in May 1984. It was also presented to the Twentieth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads

of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity which was held n

in November 1984 in accordance with an earlier decision of that Assembly. ■

Resolution 519 (XIX): Activities of ECA- and OAU-sponsored institutions

The Ad Hoc Committee met on 6 June, 3 and 8 October 1984 to decide on its

programme of work and itinerary for visits to the remaining institutions.

From 9 to 25 October the Ad Hoc Committee visited the following institu

tions: : ;

E/ECA/CM.11/15 Page 12

(a) The Industrial Property Organization for English-speaking Africa

(ESARIPO), Harare, Zimbabwe;

(b) The Regional Centre for Training in Aerial Surveys (RECTAS), ne_

Ife, Nigeria;

(c) The African Regional Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing

(ARCEDEM), Ibadan, Nigeria;

(d) The Port Management Association of West and Central Africa(PMAWCA),

Lagos, Nigeria; and

(e) The Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), Accra, Ghani;

the Ad Hoc Committee met again at EGA headquarters from 26 to 28 November 1984 to discuss its proposals to the joint ECA/OAU sponsored institutions meet ing with the Ad Hoc Committee scheduled to take olace on 10 and 11 January 1985.

The Ad Hoc Committee met on 7 and 8 January 198S at ECA headquarters to facilitate the implementation of the above proposals, on 10 and il January to discuss with Chief Executives of EGA- and' OAU-sponsored institutions and on 12 January and 4 to 6 February to prepare and finalize its report for sub mission to the eleventh meeting of ECA Conference of Ministers.

The meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee were attended regularly by Algeria, Egypt;" Cameroon'.', Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Zaire and Zambia. But the visits to the remaining institutions were made only by Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.

Benin and Botaswana have never taken part in the activities but have

always been kent informed of the decisions taken by the participating member

States of the Ad Hoc Committee.

Resolution 520 (XIX): External indebtedness of African countries

As requested by the ECA Conference of Ministers, an African Regional Ministerial

Meeting on Africa's External Indebtedness was held in Addis Ababa from 18 t6 20

June 1984 and was preceded by an experts meeting. This meeting was attended by no less than 40 African member States made: up of representatives of Ministries Of Finance and Central Banks. This meeting analyzed the African external debt

situation and the critical issues relating to the serious irnnact of the mounting

external debt, including debt servicing in African countries. After very fruit

ful deliberations, the meeting adopted the;Addis Ababa Declarationron Africa's

External Indebtedness. This Declaration was annexed to the Snec'iaI'Memorandum

by the ECA Conference of Ministers on Africa's Economic and SociaL Crisis which

was submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council. This Special Memorandum was also submitted io the twentieth Ordinary./,Sessiori of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of OAU at their meeting held in November 1984.

E/ECA/CM.11/15

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Resolution 522 fXIX): Strengthening subregional and r^innm —tirn

not yeTsS'tne0 PtI ^To™^Tll? ™±S™*™ Af™a *« *»•

i to the information

"

have beercoMributinr^1",513*:5 ^ contribut^ « one time or another or

liiysHt

Gisen^.and Niamey ""^POCs, respectively, have used

^sssiys^^j^African

or