Draft report of the first meeting of the executive committee part I comprising

DOCUMENTS OFFICE

'.

ECONOMIC COMMISSION :!"UR AFRICA

~xecutive Committee Meeting

Addis Ababa, 30 June - 5 July 1969

Fit

Distr.

R":STRICT3D ECO/INF/4 2 July 1969

c'riginal: ENGLISH/

FRENCH

V 1i

BE TAKEN OUT

DRAFT REPORT O~' TH~ FIRST M":ETING OF THO;: EX,CUTIVE COliIl'llITTEE PART I comprising --

Introduction Agenda Item 1 (a) Agenda Item 2 Agenda Item 3 Agenda Item 4 (a) Agenda Item 5 (a) (i ) Agenda Item 5 (a) (ii) Agenda Item 5 _(a~ (iii) Agenda Item 5 (a (iv) Agenda Item 5 (a (v) Agenda Item

5

(a) (vi) Agenda Item 5 (a) (Vii) Agenda Item 7

~j69-1899

• ECO/INF/4

DRAFT REFJRT ,F TID: FIRST M::3ETING "F' TH-:; :;X::CUTIVE C MMITTBE INTR,DUCTI ON

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa a~)pted at the ninth eeeeion resolution l88(IX) on the institutional machinery of the Commission and established an ~xecutive Committee, oomprising tha Chairman,

. '."' "

the two Vioe-Chairmen and the Rapporteur of the session of the Conference of l·.inisters; two representatives from each sub-region (eaohoffioe bearer

.

of the

.

region

^,

Conference of ~inisters being regarded as represe,nting the ~ub- , "".,

in which his oountry is situated),two il.frical'l mEljllbers of ";C:SOC,

.~

one rspresenting the Jil'lglish-spsaking and the "thsr Frsnoh-spsaking oountries! and two African members of the Governing Council of UNDP, one representing the English-spsaking and the other French-speaking oountries. The ~xeoutive Committee is to meet at leaet twice a year.

In aooordanoe with this rssulution, the ~ecutive Secretary was req~ested

to convene the first meeting of the Committee.

The first meeting of the Executive Committee oonvened at Addis Ababa (Africa Hall) from 30 June to 5 July 1969 and wae attended by representative,

, ,

from Congo (Brazzaville) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Central Afrioan eub-region; Sudan and Moroooo in the North African sub- region; Kenya in the jast african sub-region (the representat~ve'of Botswana

'.~...,,

was not present); and Senegal and Nigeria in the _~est African sub-region.

ECuSOC was represented by the delega,tes from Chad and Sierra Leone. Algeria

,.:

and Tanzania represented UNDP.

As the Chairman, Mr. Liss9uba, expressed telegraphically his inability to attend the meeting on 30 June 19q9, it was ,suggested that the meeting

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ECO/INF!4·

Page 2

should be postponed to 1 July • . However , after some discussion, the members in attendanoe unanimously decided that~ until his arrival,. the rep~esentativ~

of Kenya, the· Honour~bleTom Nboyashould aot as Chairman of the session.

Mr. Mboya took the ohair, deolared the Committee open and weloomed

"',

the participants.

A point was raised as to whether the press should or should not be allowed to attend the deliberations of the Executive Committee. After some discussion, it wao decided that the press should not be permittei to attend the Committee meetings, and prese representatives were requested to leave the Committee room. It was also decided that repr8Aentatives of UN agenoies would not be permitted to attend, unless required for the examination of certain items. As far as embassy staff of member

.

^"

Statas Were oonoerned, the Committee was·of the opinion that since the meeting oonoerned all Afrioan member States, the staff of such embassies might be allowed to attend _bu~ with no right of disoussion and/or vote.

In view of the desire of uAU and EOA to strengthen their relations, it Was agreed that (,AU oould be represented by an observer who would assist

in policy oo-ordination.

" . '

It was oonfirmed that the offioe bearers of the ninth session would automatioally be the offioers of the Committee. It was also oonfirmed

that, in acoordanoe with the terms of resolution 188 (IX), "no oountry may have more than one rspresenta tive <..l'I. the J::x:eoutive Commi ttae".

The members of the Committee axamined the r~vised provisional agenda established by the

secretari~t (EVCN.l4/~Cv/l/Rev.2).

^{After a}

long debate, the agenda was adopted with a ohange in the number of items and a few amendments (see annex •••• ).

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ECO/INF/4 Page 3

Agenda item 1 (a) Cb.ac^rmants report on meeting with United Nations Secretary-General in New York on

18

March

1969

The Chairman, Mr. Lissouba, thanked the Executive Committee for the

understand~gshown as to his delay in coming to the present session of the Executive Committee and also the Hon. Tom Mboya for holding the forst in his absence to enable the Executive Committee to proceed without any loss of time. ContinuL"lg, he eY-plainedthat his delay in coming to Addis Ababa was due to circumstances beyond his control. In Congo (Brazzavili'e) as in other African countries reo'rganizaticn of the Gove:rnment was constantly taking place and quite recently the Congo

(Brazzaviile)Governmen~

^had

been reorganized. , I t was this process that preve~tedhimfrom starting early sCas'to be in Addis Ababa on time. He then went on to speak about

.

hisme.eting in New York with the immediate colleagues of the Seoretary-- General;: Mr. Ph. 'de Seynes, Mr. A. Stark, Mr.' ,""S. Djerrnakoye, Mr. Paul- Marc Henry 'ana others, exoep;;

!>Ir.

Hoffman of UN1lP whom he could not see, then his subsequent meeting with the Secr~tary-dene;'alassisted by the Han•.Tom Mboya', at tL'e- eEdof "hich he handed to the Secretary-General a memorandum on the"reot't;A.nj,zaiion of ECA. He also met African

representativeCi 'of ECOSOC an.I UNDP.

,

In Ne1~ Yo::-:: h~s

"'D.i:,

pz eoc cupa^t i.cn waa to see how the r-esol.uta.ons

...'-'~ --

.

^{'-'-, C .-' :=Cl-_} -:;')';.1'1 "e implemented and he

discovered that -to a"hiGle thi-:; czid it wa", necessary to mobilize African opinion. The most importxnt problem facing the present mesting of

the Executive Committee was ~o. to present the case for the reorganization of ECA to (a) FCOSOC, and (b) UNDP in the light of the Capacity Study.

ECO/INF/4 Page 4..

Broadly speaking, the Secretary-General did not see much

difficulty in haying ~CA reorganized in line with the resolutions of the ninth session provid.ed these rssuluti ins are acceptable to ,C' 3'.,0 and the UNDP Governing Council. 1,here the reorganization would imply new budgetary allocations, it was necessary to have the matter

referred to the General Assembly and gat its approval. Tho Chairman

then suggested to the -xeoutive Committee to write to the Seoretary~General

thanking him for his support and understanding shown in the need for the reorganization of ~CA and his desire to see s mething conorete done for Africa during the second Development Deaade. After the Chairman's

introduotory remarks, the ~xeautive Committee decided to postpone

discussion on this particular item of' the agenda until they had had oopies of the minutes of the ab·;ve IDeeting and his correspondence with the

Sacretary-General. These were later distributed to the members of the Committee.

, - - - -

ECO/INF/4 Page 5

Item 2(a) Arrangements and procedure for establishing working reiations

Or effective c~ntact between ~he Executive Committee and the following:

i) The ECA secretariat

In carrying out resolution l88(IX) dealing with the institutional

. . .'.,:

"machinery of the Commission, it was suggested that the secretariat of the Commission should be the administrative secretariat of the Executive C~mmiitee and centralize all the necessary documentation in liaison with the' Rapporteur.

It should keep members of the Exeoutive Committee informed of all_{. . -,} de ve Lopmen'ts within the secretariat. This should be done in, addition

!

to the usual channels of communication of ECA with member States ,of

the Commission. There should be someone close to the Executive secretary, whose duty should be to keep in oontact with members of the Exeoutive commi'ttee, so that at all' time s i t should be possible for them to have

"

easy and direct aocess to the ECA seoretariat. The Executive secretary

,.-.

should'f~rward

a report to member States every three months, through the magazine "Afrioan Target" and, provide information on his activities as ofte;;' as necessary.

A similar service should be provided for the Ambassadors of the member States of the ExeoutTv'e Commi, He'e, resid-ent in Add.is Ababa.

The basic document, (the report of the Executive se ore tary) should reach the Rapporteur of the Executive Committee, a month before a meeting was held. Th~t report should deal with (a) the implementation of

resolutions 'andworl<: pr~gramme; (b) co-operation with intern~tional ^and intra-African organizations; (c) the secretariat's requirements in order to disoharge its responsibilities.

Eco/rNF!4.

Page 6

:-:-

~ '-~- ..^,.~-_. .

"-'-_._..

Thei Rapporteur should be assooiated. more closelywith',ihe work of the Executive Committee, and also of the secretariat. It should be enough to decide on two meetings a year, but not fix specific dates for them. The time for each meeting should be dictated by the prevailing circumstances. Meetings should take place a few weeks before important international meetings (like meetings of ECOSOC, the General Assembly and meetings of the Assembly of African Heads of State and Government, whose schedules might vary.) Meetings of the Executive Committee and also of the Technical Committee of Experts should take place at Addis Ababa, so as to (a) cut running costs and (b) get the secretariat of the Commission to service them.

The secretariat should report regularly to members of the Executive Committee about its activities including the work being done in the sub-regional offices. Its report should be prepared every three months, but should anything of special significance occur during the intervening period, a special report should be prepared for the' members of the.

Exeoutive Committee.

2(a) (ii) Governments and member States of ECA

Reports of meetings of the Executive Committee should be circulated to member States of EGA. The reports should be signed by the Chairman of the session or, in his absence, the Rapporteur, and deal mainly with political matters, while the ECA secretariat should prepare reports covering administrative and technical matters.

"

EGO/IllF/4 Page T,'

«~'_, "'_',::,,!is~~~jjJ:~d1l/i_.::-n:.a.:d.:e,t,o,memiler "S,t,ates,b~ E'em1Jers,of the Gommi~~ee,

within the limits of available finance. The Chairman, and the Rapporteur,

espeG.i1iiiy.,~hOti.'1il:~in'&:posit'iontoattendmee-tings of Head.a of State a:nciOove'Ifnment,.· the,objeci. :ofsuch visits being "tc inform member States of the activities of the Committee and the secretariat •

. ," .l :-; ,-, . ' "'~ ' c ".-.

. 2(a) ,( iii) Sub-regional and multinational inslittltions

.,:) ',' - ":, _.. ., ,-I \

Reports of the meetings o[the Commi tteeshould be forwarded to sub-

", regi'onal offices and multinational agencies, as well as the report on the

activiti~s of the secretariat.

Agencies at work in Africa should be invited to forward reports of_",

"

their meeting to the Executive Ccmmittee.

" r

It was pointed out that while certain organizations like sub-regional bff:Lbesand IDEP could be made' to

pres~nt

reports of the activi ties'to the

E~cu~Ya Ccmmittee, it was not certain whether the autonomous agencies like

ADB_",~and others would recognize the competence of the Executive,_{, ~'}Comma_,ttee to_,-;',

invite them to submit reports to them. That could perhaps be done if the

'" ,", lIe8.dS'6f

Statil and' Government emphasized the need for them to have a

,,,ge,na,rel, picture of the economic and social development taking "placs' :in Africa,

...

^~

-.^-, - •,])hs.,Jlec~ttariat of the Ocmmission should provide members of,; theCcmmi tte'

wi,~r,,a.,,:li~t,.of all the sub-regional officesa,nd multinationaL ,age"eies in , Africa.

2(a) (iv)

; " .

Subsidiary bodies of the Commission (.i.e. Conference of African

"Flannel'S, Conference of African Statisticians, Working Group on Man ower and Trainin 'orkin Part on Intra-African Trade the Advisory, Cemmi ttee on Staff Recruitment arid Training

The meeting. recognized the need of subsidiary bodies ,of the Commission,

".,g.,

Cen1ere,noe of African Planne r-s ; Conferenpe of African Stat,iS,ticians,

Working Group on Manpower and Training, Working Party on Intra-African Trade, the 'Ad-Jisory Committee on Staff Recruitment and Training tc ksep the Executiv Committee informed of all their activities. The reports of such bodies

should be forwarded to each of the members of the Committee, and presented and discussed at meetings of the Committee.

E/CN.14/ECo/n~F/4 Page 8

2(a) (v) African members of agencies

2(a) (vi) African Permanent

various United Nations apecaa Li.zed and other Representatives to the United Nations

The Committee decided that the Executiv~ Committee should keep in close touch with African members of various United Nations specialized and other agencies and wi,th.'!li:fr'i,i,~.!l permanent r",presenta1;iyes.::tQ .:the Uni te.d Nations.

ECA secretariat should supply an up-to-date list of African members on these bodies and keep members of the Executive Committee informed of their meetings as well as the subject for each meeting. ECA should, at the same time, inform African members of those agencies or bodies of the decision ·taken by the Exec

tive Committee on the matter, in relation tc the changes proposed at the

ninth session of the Commission. The names of African members serving on su(~

bodies should be put on the mailing list, and the deliberations, decisions ar.

conclusions of the Executive Committee meetings transmitted to them.

It was pointed out that the African representatives preferred to receive communications through their governments. It would therefore be useful to r-eque s member States to authorize direct communioationwith their representatives.

2(a) (vii) The various organs of the OAU (i.e. the OAU secretariat, the Counc~l of M~n~sters and the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU)

The OAU secretariat should be·represented at meetings of the Executive COl.

mi ttee byan observer, who would be in a po su tion to report on the deliberations of the Committee,andbringituptodate with problems raised at OAU meetings • . Conversely,the ECA secretariat should be similarly represented on the OAU

Comlni ttee, which came nearest to being a counterpart of the Executive Commi tic

It was pointed out that in the oonvention between ECA and OAU, pro- vision had been made for suoh reoiprooity. Consequently,'all that 'was needed now was to implement that provision. Moreover the OAU/United Nati~ns ^offioe

';!-:-

might be used by the Exeoutive Committee to enable its representative to establish oontaot through it with Afrioan representatives at the United Nations. As in the past, all dooumentation on the aotivities of ECA should be oommunioated to the OAU seoretariat and vice versa.

The OAU representative a aaure d the meeting of,.the willingness of the

Adminis1;r~

tive Seoretary General to plaoe the OAU seoretariiit at the Uni ted Na1fiqnElⁱ the Council ·of Ministers and the Assembly of Heads of state and

·1f<;>veJ:'nment at the disposal of ECA for the progress and effeotiv<ilnes,s_ of its

",',_,~, 1\rrap;gements, and prooedure for regular presenta tion of reports _.~!1,

l'1le

aotivities of ECA for the oonsideration of African Heads of State and Government before sessions of the Counoil of Mini$te.rs ,and toM Aaaemb Ly of Heads of State and Government of OAU, in order that the Commission

. ! , : " . ' QOuld,;be given the necessary politioal support

a~nerally,

the Committee was of the opinion

t~t

the·report to be sub- 'Dlitted. foroonsideration by Heads of State and GovernmentshouJ.d be a oon-

ao Lada ted. report , indioa ting all the poli tioal aspeots of the resolu,tions and

deli9~ratioqsof the Exeoutive Committee. That report should

be

prepared by the offioe of the Committee and, ,if necessary, presented at the following Illeeting",if time allowed.

, The report, onoe-drafted, should be forwarded .to the body responsible for preparing the agenda of the Assembly of Heads of State .and Gqvlilrnment, the Counoilof Ministers, or the general seoretariat of OAU.

, M i t was suggested in item 2(a) (ii)that it' would bede.l!lira·ble for the Chairman and the Rapporteur to be 'present at the Assembly of Heads of' State

EldN~14/ECOj:tNF/4

Page 10 '

and Government, they might present the report in question themselves on tha~

occasion.

Unlike the report to the Heads of State and Government, the report to be presented at the Conference of Ministers should be more technioally detailed.

and have annexed documents, particularly the reports of the meetings of the Executive Committee and the secretariat z-e poz-t a ,

" _",~, -. ...^'.'. '.

2(c) Arrangements and procedure for briefing African members of the Economic ,'and .social Council and African 'Governments on the activities of the Cor

mission before session« of th", Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations

That sUbject formed part of agen~a itemG 2(a) tv) and (vi) whioh had already been examined. The only reminder neu8ssary was that documents should be forwarded to African members of ECOSOC officially through their .Oovernmen".

That should not, however, prevent the Corrmittee fromcsending them copies of such documents personally",

2(d) Arrangements and procedure'for recelvlng reports from the Technical Com mittee of Experts and for submission of reports to the ECA Conference ^C"

'Ministers biennially,

The'technical'committee should meet once a year,and present reports to the OAU Conference of Ministers. Such reports, should deal with ECA studies and with programmes of: work and priorities. Uonsequently"itWQuld ^be adva s- able for meetings of the ,technical committee to take place at the -snd of the year or, at least, early in th8 new year, to.examine what had actually been achieved by ECA during the past yea:;:-, and the, .d.raf t programmes for the coming year. At the meeting immediately'before the Conference of Ministers takes place, the experts should examine, ECA's pr,ogress report during the past biennium and the draft'programme for the coming' biennium, A report should be presented ,at the Confe:renoe 'of"lIIini",tcrs.

Agenda item 3'

ECO/INF/4 Page 11

Review of structure and composition of sub- regional groupings and associated problems,

The Commission had decided to establish a number of sub-regions because it realized that the fragmentation of Africa made economic development in member States well-nigh impossible. The economies of most African countries are oharacterized by small national markets, paucity of skills, une~ual distribution of natural resources and acute shortage of capital. The present grouping into four sub-regions was not intended to be rigid. It provided relatively convenient geographical units. Moreover, within each sub-region, other co-operative gr~ups

have been forming, the Maghreb in North Africa, the Chad Basin, the Niger and the Senegal River Commissions in Hest Africa, the EconoJ!lic Community in East Africa. All these efforts nOw receive support in staff and funds from U~~P and the rest of the UN system, and even though they were originally sponsored by DCA the Commission's relalions with them are now extremely tenuous.

On the basis of itA studies the Maghreb and the rest of Nor~

Africa intend to hold a conference on the prOspects of sub-regional industrialization later this year. The secretariat has provided

documentation for consultations in East Africa and is preparing studies for seotoral meetings recommended by the Lusaka Conference of Heads of State and Government held in April 1969. The Chairman of the consulta- tive committee had offered to assist in reeuscitating the Central

African sub-region which in essence consists of co-operation be~7een

Congo-Kinshasa on the one hand and the UDEAC countries en the other.

The COmmittee felt that the proposals of the secretariat had not paid sufficient attention to the ninth session request that the

ECO/INF/4 Page 12

re-group"lng"Of ,eol1nt'riesshouldbe reviewed ariirradical changes suggested

':-'.

where necessary. The Committee attempted a number of alternative

groupings based on geographical contiguity, common interests, development of common services and infrastructure, economic trends, past asspciations and .merge~t'growth-points. It further suggested that the dependent

territorie s of Africa - Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea, Nam,ibia should be included in any new re-grouping of countries into sub-regions.

It propcsed that Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mauritius and Mad~asoar

might be considered as a separate sub-region. Finally, it decided that present arrangements should remain pending a detailed study to be made by the secretariat and submitted to it in accordance with resolution 194( IX).

ECO/INF/4 Page 13

Agenda item 4(a): He-organization, st~cture and funotions of the secretariat.

Document E/CN.14/ECP/6 on Re-organization, Structure and Functions of ECA deals with the need to staff the substantivs divisionsmors

,

adequately, suggests a combination of thePrQgramme Co-ordination Section of ths ~~ec~tive Secretary's office with the Technical Assistance Co- ordinati.on Unit and proposes a nucleus of staff for eaoh of the existing sub-regional offices. It further states, on page 25, that a more

detailed study of arrangements to respond fully to the needs of the Bub- regions is to be worked out on the principle that the work load in

specifio fields would tend.to fluctuate and that the functions to be performed by the sub-regional offices wouldoomplement activities in eaoh member State and be related to the tasks of offioials of the UNDP and the Speoialized and operating Agencies within eaoh sub-region. The basic assumption in this approaoh to staffing and finance of the sub- regions is that oonsiderable savings oould be made in operations w1thlD the UN system if the sub-regional offices oould serve as oc-ordinating units to work with groups of Resident Representatives. These offices could also prcvide administrative support for the formulation and implementation of multi-national projects.

The Secretariat emphasized that after very careful examination of all the implications only a minimum additional staff and funds had been requested - the meeting felt that there was a risk in asking for what might turn out to be a skeleton staff. It further argued that the first Development Decade in Africa could best be described as Africa's 'political decade' and could be ignored from the point of view of development. In faot, for Africa, it would be more appropriate to describe the coming

ECO/INF/4 Page 14

decade as the first Development Decade , j"en:beI'S Of the Executive

.

^::.'

Comm,i ttee, also .f'eLt that though 'the arguments siet 'out in the document ,,~were compelli,ng, the reque'sts based on them were excessively mcidest~ ^,

• •" ,~• .0

I.twas urged, that ECA ehould partioipate directly in th;" deliberations

~nd activities of the UNDP and the specialized and operating Agencies.

~he Committee felt very strongly that the Document had not given adequa te attention to tile decentralization of the activities of _~CA headquarters to the' sub-regions. It was suggested that the proposals

should be amended to includes,aff and finance 'for any new sub-regions whioh might be created• . It was further argued that adequate staffing o,f the sub-regional off·ices wouLd provide an opportunity for the

establishment of a language balance (French and English) within the ECA secretariat.

":'

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ECo/INF/4 Page 15

, i , ' AgenrlE'item' 5(a)(.i):, UN Capac.ity Study ,

",' ' TheUhi ted Na>tion; hav~

in

;ecent years been concerned with 'the

$fficiencY

ofth~parellt

'bo!iyand its various

execut'i~rtoperati~

^agencies.

In compliance' wi'thGeneraiAssembly resolutions, a Committee of Seven was appo'inted.:'H-~f"'si1;ed:the-Headquarters of the Regional-eoinmissions as wel1-!l.S'those of the Specialized and Operating Agencie's;" On'

~he':Fe:~om­

mendati'cli,1i,:Of '·"ibis'Commi ttee" arrangements have been mad~ f'or~a Mana~ment

Service and Manpower Survey wi thin the UN Secretariat. ,.

'Th~lDost'

^'

Si'gnificaI1t'C)bservations~ of the Committee of Seven, on :regional Economic COIIilhe~ionl3 are in paragraph 33( a}

'""Wbile'it,i's aware that some aspects of the questions me~ti6n~d

below will be cOY8red by the capacity study beirig und~rtaken'under^the auspicEi~"of1niDp, the Committee recommends that the following should be exPlored:

"(a) A study of the extent to "liicn decentralization is possible to 'the' secrEi'tariB,t's of the' regional economic commissions and the

, United Nitioris"];cl:inorilic and Soc'ial Office in Beirut of such sec"oral functions~ithinthe'Departmentas resources, transport, tourism and housing, without the loss of effective central control. In

anyca's~';

the' Committee believes tl1';'tin euch sectors the setting up of new au.'t'dnomi:lu's orgart'iza'tions should be ruled out as a possible solution."

and para

37 -

i.i'"Thei'Comm'i'ttEie 'r'ecommerids' that the secretariats of the regional eccinomi6'commissions'arid'the Economic and Social Office in Beirut'be reinforced l'hrough:;'

~ Document

Af7359

of 27 November 1968.

ECO/INF/4 Page 16

"(a) Dele.~ation...of authority, fpr.i~Ill€:m~p"~i~q!,behalf of the United Nations certain UNDP multi-country ~rojects and verhavs certain

country projects. Thi.s may also include sectoral activities depending upon tne .cunclusions reached on the abova-merrti onad exploratory work.

(b) Better definition of their role in the co-ordination, at the ,regional level. of the activities of the organization of the United

NatioFs system in the economic and scc~al fields through joint administrative arrangements.

(c) More effective cons~ltation regarding the appraisal of UNDP and other projects requested by Governments, in respect not only of regional projects - as is already the case - but also, On a selected basis, of country projects. _{n .... ·}

(d) The provision of ade quwce information on the progress of implementation of projects. as well as participation in the various

. . ,." .t '.

task forces and evaluation teams.

(e)

Closer contacts and better continuing liaison between the.

secret~riats of the regional economic commissions, On the one hand, and UNDP resident representatives, inter-regional advisers and other key

technical co-operation personnel on the other."

." . ~.

In 1968, a Jcint Inspection Un:.t was created with its seat in Geneva. This Unit ha s a^Lr-e.ady visi t,'d ECA Headquar te r s and the sub-

:...-. regional office in Lusaka. The report of the Joint Inspection Unit is also to be submitted

'0

,he Gcrreral Assembly. These reports.should

....

be of special interest to [1J!Joer States of E.CA because they propoee lines along wh:',,'" Uni~c~.. ::..t'c: ..' ilCstit.utions including tbe regional

ECO/INF/4·

Page 17

commissions should. evolve. The proposals affect the structure, functions and manning of these institutions. The Secretary-General has to operate on the basis of these principles and so the problems of the Africanization of the LCA secre-Gariat and the equitable geographi- cal distribution of staff within it have to be approached with due regard to the legislative limitations established. by the General Assembly and reflected in the reports.

The UNDP also has been aware of the increasing volume and

complexity of requests addressed to it. To cope with this problem and to increase its effectiveness, the Governing Council of UNDP appointed

·Sir Robert Jackson to study its capacity. Because the UNDP is now the principal souroe of funds for the activities of all the Specialized and Operating Agencies, this study has naturally developed into a general investigation of the capacity of all the eoonomic and socialagellbiss of the United Nations system.

This poses special problems for the Regional Commissions:

(i)

be- causs of the multiplicity of Agencies, every project reoommended by a Regional Commission can be argued as falling within the exc2ueive competence of some other UN insti tutionj (ii) for. the execution of projeots the UNDP normally chooses One of the Specialized and Operating Agencies without reference to Regional Commissions even if the project has been criginally identified and formulated by a Commission, and even where the Agency has been hostile or indifferent to the prcject; (iii) it seems that the secretariat of the UNDP reserves to itself the right to decide which projects it will reject and which it will submit to the Governing Council for consideration.

ECO/INF/4 Page 18

Moreover"aince the Regional members of the Governing Council are eelected as individuals or representatives' of single' courrtr-te s they do not normally have the multinational or regiorial b~ckgr~und ^{to enable} them to asaeesthe overall impact of theprojecta submitted to them for approval. The problem poeed by this arrangement fsof special concern to. Africa where most of the viable economic developments depend on sub- regional and multinational co-operation. The'UNDP eystem, 'as it operates today, has no plaoe'for RegionalCornmissions. For the developing

countries the rectification of this situation ~houid be, pe;haps, the most, important aspect of the debate on the Capacity StudY when it is submitted to the UNDP Governing Councilor the General Assembly.

It was agreed (i) that the secretariat should analyze the Capacity Study as soon as it is ready and eubmit its conclusions first to the members of the Lxecutive Committee, and thsn to all member States of ECA for their guidance; (ii) that the record of the proceedings of the

Executive Committee be made available to all African members of the UNDP Governing Council and ECOSOC; (iii) a detailed examination of the

formal relations between ECA and UNDP to facilitate more effe~tive ^use of joint resources for the benefit of the Region should be prepared by ECA for consideration by the Committee.

,---

ECO/INF/4 Page 19

Agenda item "Ca)

(ul:

UNGTAD

The relations with UNGTAD are carried on two levels, a governmental level and a seoretariat level. On the governmental level the EGA and the OAU hold

~ Joint meetings of trade and development experts to consider in partioular subjeots which are discussed in the various UNCTAD bodies and on which it is desirable to harmonize African positions. The joint EGA/OAU meetings work

.~ particularly olose wiib the Afrioan Group in Geneva, whioh consists of Afrioan

·~mi$sions acoredited to the international organizations in Geneva and UNGTAD.

The Third Joint EGA/OAU Meeting took place in January of this year. That meeting 'drew up a new African strategy for trade and development following the Seoond United Nations Gonference On Trade and Development. The recom- mendations of the third meeting were endorsed by the ninth session of the . EGA and the session of the OAU Council of Ministers. Pr-epar-a'taons are now

well under~w~for the Fourth Joint Meeting, which will take place immediately preceding the Ninth Session of the UNCTAD Tr~de and Development Board.

Go-operation between UNCTAD and the ECA on the secretariat level has been close for a ~umber of years, particularly in the fields of trade promo- tion and eoenomic oo-operation. The deoision to make UNGTAD a partioipating and exeouting agenoy of UNDP has brought in elements which may not benefit the Afrioan region. This deoision, for which the African countries fought hard for a number of years in the Trade and Development Board as members of the Group of

77,

means that projects in trade promotion which previously were submitted to OTC for approval now have to be submitted to UNGTAD.

The main difference is that the OTG in most cases recognized the right of the

ECO/INF/4 Page 20

ECA to set its own priorities and was mainly oonoerned with the finanoial aspects of any project submitted to it 'f~r,a~roval" The deoision to transfer

.~:':.-- ~.,...^,.,- ...

-

.. " , .

the approval authority to,UNCTAD means that the setti~ of priorities in one of the Commission's fields of oompetenoe will pass :to the hands, ofa non- African agency.

, .~ "

Instead of decentralLation operational activities will beoome even further oentralized in global agencies, clearly ocntrary to the intent of the ninth session and surely also contrary,~otheintent of, the Afrioan members of the UNCTAD Trade and ~evelop~rnt Boaqd when theY secured for the organization a plaoe as participating ,andexeouting agency of the UNDP.

The first example of this new state of affairs has been the decision to transfer to UNCTAD the right of approval _o~ disapproval for the EGA/GATT courees , These courses have been run jointly by the ECA and GATT sinoe 1962, subjeot to finanoial approval by

arc

Which has never been denied. UNCTAD has approved the running of these oourses in 1969. It may approve it also in coming years, but it should be reoognized 'V,';UNCTAD naturally has to set its

Own priorities in the light of its o,m glob~l responsibilities., It can therefore easily be envisaged a 81tllR,ti,on whe~e ~, decinion wEl be +.aken to run 'only One training OOurse in trade promotion, for one l~fUage group only, in Africa because the funds ~ould be needed to trade promotion activities in another developing region.'

Following a deoision of the Second _m~C~AD a speoial unit has been set up in the UNCTAD secretariat to, deal with trade expansion and econofuie integration among developing countries. In a number of instances this unit has, with the finanoial backing of the UNDP, been formulating and implementing multi-national projects in

Af~ioa

without informing the secretariat of ECA

- 3 -

ECO/INF/4 Page 21

of its activities. In many oases the knowledge cf these projects has been brought to the notice of EOA by incidental information found in newspapers, periodicals and often documents.

The Executive Committee recommended that the joint ECA/OAU meeting which was established should make known to the Secretary-General of UNCTAD the strong desire of African countries to make African ~dies,

and in particular the Economic Commission for Afric~more operational in the fields of trade promotion and economic co-operation.

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ItGm 5(a)(iii); Dec3:1tralizJ.tion of ']'echnic.).l lssist:1.nce

The technical ~6sist~nce ~ctivities of the Commission fall under two heads;-

, ..

~~e8'ione.l ^{a c}t i^{v i}t i^{a a} f i r i a n c o d from UJ.'ill..' ' I ' e c h ni^{c a L} _"..ssistance :Sources;

Under (:1.) f i.nanc e is provided by \JJTiJ.' for the organizCl.tion of ,leetings,

·'jeminJ.rs, 'llraining Courses, Iorl:inG .'arties<> 'l'he administro..tive responsibility for these J.ctivities 'ere until racently exor-c i.eed from Uii Heudquar-t.er-s , vrhi.ch still hJ.s financi~l control, ffroquent reference h~s to be made to Headquarters

for budget~ry approval ~nd changes in the order 07 prioriti8s~

Under (b) an ^a L l . o c at^{i . o n} is made as ^{p a r - t}

or

the United ^{. I a ' ti . o n e} .1ecuLJ.r 3udget to finance the activities of :~eJ,'ion3,1 ,ldvisers, who by definition constitute a mobile core of intern~tion~l experts "ho respond to urgent ~nd

unroreseen requests from .Iembcr- St:J.tGS for o.SSistJ.HC:J^D 1^1he .):.; \ had 2v .:e(;ional ~,dvis"rs ~t post in 196v out of an appr-oved e stab l Lshmerrt of 37"

Owing to the distances to be covered by legional ldvisers, the present

budgetary arrangement which allows for t.ravo l per ye,~r per ,legion,-l ldviser tends to restrict their movements, ,\ more flexible '1rrangement is needed as 1]'1811 as mora 'tr:J..vel f'unda to enc.bLe ...legion3.1 1dvisers to respond

to the increasing number of requests reaching the Secretariat of the Commission,

ECO/INF/4 Page 23

The Ueeting agreed th~t more flexible arr~gementswere needed to allow the Commission 3ecret~riat to undertake direct recruitment of ~egional

Advisers. It was also suggested that such a flexible system would enable the Secretariat to make use of the services of African experts and lli11versity and research wor~2rs for relatively short periods. On the other hand, it was felt that the contractual period for ]egiohal Advisers which is at present one year needs to be extended to two years in order to enable non-African technical exper,s to familiarize themselves with ~frican conditions and to give them a sense of security.

The Committee also agreed to request the ^",ill; Governing Council and ::;COSOC to:-

(i) designate ,~C't as an ;'eJCeouting agency' for certain 3pecial JUnd activities in which the Commission has accumulated

specialized knowl edge of the material and human problems of the i\.fric::m region;

(ii) involve the Commission Secretariat in the preparations and drafting of plans of operation of Jp~~l ~'und }roJects, for which the

Commission Secretari3t has already accumulated necessary

material as a result of surveys, research 3nd studies undertwcen in relction to specific development problems of the countries of the region;

ECO/INF/4 Page 24

(iii) increase the Commission 0ecretariat's involvement in the development or promotion of sub-regional or regional training institutions which are established with Special Fund assistance;

(iv) grant the ^JC,,\ Secretariat an active role in the programming and planning of UN technical assistance and Specialized Agencies' programmes;

(v) grant the Commission Secretariat full operational control of

responsibility to the Co~~ission Secretariat.

, ,

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Item 5(80) (iv) - FAO

The need to establish close ,/Orkin" relations with FAO had been realized since 1959. Economic development in a predominantly agrarian region is obviously dependent en progress in agriculture. For these reasons, a joint ECA/FAO Agriculture Division was set up on the basis of an agreement which re~uires FAO to appoint the Director, BCA and FAOto provide the professional staff and to agree upon the work programme annually.

Co-operation between FAO has had many vicissitudes and has not been entirely satisfactory. The Executive ~ecretary of ECA and the Director-

.,

,

General of FAO agreed in 1968 that it was appropriate to establish a single UN programme for an agricultural development in Africa. This

proposal was submitted to the FAO Regional Conference for Africa which now constitutes the sole forum for the discussion of agricultural programmes.

The joint i;CA/FAO Division submitted its work lJrogramme to FAO Headquarters and all interested FAO Divisions examined and approved the bCA proposals and included them in the FAO programme submitted to the Kampala meeting in November 1968. The joint Division's proyosed projects and FAO's five priority areas were unanimously accepted by the Kampala meeting and later endorsed by the 9th session of BCA.

Important structural re-organization was taking place within FAO which would place special emphasis on the ne8d cf individual countries and regions. This re-organization includes the creation ofa Development Department, the stationing of teams of experts at the country level and the strengthening of the Africa Regional Office to enable it to carry

ECO/IN?/4 Page 26

out operational proJects. Already direct liaison had been established between the joint 3CA/FAO Division and the Office. It was pointed out that jointly FAa and ECA are promoting the establishment of a \Iest Africa rice proJect. This was to be the first of such projects which would help to strengthen research programmes and facilities and the application or research results tc production. Already IITA in Ibadan provides another example of the recognition of the need to ressucitate research organizations or tc create new ones.

The meeting expressed its satisfaction at the establishment of a Bingle UN programme for agricultural development in Africa.

I~ . .

EGO/INF/4 Page 21

Item 5(a)(v) ~ .1TNIDO

ECA and UNIDO do not yet have a single programme or approach to the fostering of industrialization in Africa, but a number of encouraging deyelopments have taken place.

In this connexion, attention was drawn to the agreement between the two organizations which had resulted from discussions between Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Abdel Rahman last November and it was noted that EGA staff

members had participated as observers at the Industrial Development Board Meeting in April/May of this year. In a~dition, the first two, of five,

, O f ' -

industrial field advisors had now been designated (Addis Ababa and Kinshasa).

There was expected to be, partly through the liaison such staff arrangements made possible a continuous exchanbe of information between EGA and UNIDO concerning work programme items. Finally, the expected co-operation

between the organizations in the area of investment project implementation was defined with UNIDO's probable emphasis being related to infrastructure development.

In terms of concrete examples of co-operation, the following were

cited: the fact that ZGA would be consulted when the applicants for industrial field advisor posts were being screened and that EGA would participate in the annual meetinbs planned for this field advisor group the intent would be to exchange views and to co-ordinate activities; the EGA/UNDIO meeting planned for this fall, where ECA would be given the opportunity to comment on and perhaps influence UNIDO's work programme for 1911 and where EGA would be extending the same opportunity to UNIDO.

ECO/INF/4 Page 28

The object would be closer co-ordination. In thi'Lconte·xt, reference was made to .the intention to form a joint OAU/ECAjuNIPO Committee.

Other examples of specific project· co-6peration were ci ted. The se included the work planned in strengthening national industrial promotion centres (now involving work in 5-6 countries); the intention ECA had of soliciting lJ.NIDO assistance on development ofmulti nat aonaj, investment centres; the co-operation intended in the area of regional seminars on major sectors of industry; and the probability of joint action in founding sub-regional centres concerned with the manufacturing and utilization aspects of agricultural equipment; finally, the broad area of co-operation hoped for in the field of small-scale industry.

, , - , - - - -

ECO/INF/4 Page 29

Item S(a)(vi): Ul,ill3CO

~c~ is concerned with the economics of education, the corrtr-abut.ton of education to economic progress and arrangementsam6ng African universities for a rational pattern fur the' distribution of technol~gicalfaculties which are costly to institute and to run, and, finally, in the reorg~ization'b1

teaching-eto make it possible for students to acquire 'a backgr-ound of' practical experience to supplement the theor-e^t acc.I educa^{t t}on^tthey are r-eoe^rvmg;: 'Jlnth~

fields of science and technology, ^,X:\ is interested in the adaptation of

modern science and technology to the natural resource endol~ent and the physical and social environment of :lfrican economic activity and to problems of

i :

org3.l1izati~n of demands for science and technology for application to the development process.

'j'he mandate ofU-cT_~SCO is admittedly much wider. Since 1959, ,XAand' U,i;3CO have attempted to establish ~ pattern for co-operating and supplementing each other's efforts. On several occasions, a Liaison Officer from U~~SCO has been attached to th2 :~CI\ secretariat. 'l'his arrangement has not been productive, In 1967 U,T;jSCO/~CA agreed to hold Joint me e^t iriga to identify projects of

common interest.. On the basis of this ::trr3.ngement, meetings tiGre held in aris in i'lay 1967 and Addi s Ababa in July/f\'Ugust 196G. The visit of the Director-General of Uif,SCO in 196v provided an opportunity to define specific

~reas of co-operation --

(a) a survey of \frican students studying and training abroad which had been initiated in 1967, needed follow-up action.

ECO/INF/4 Page 30

(b) ,XA needed a copy of the report on the first pha.se of the mcsco Study of university facilities in Africa as a basis for further work in the field of manpower planning.

(c) In pursuance of a resolution taken by the Nairobi Conference of 1966, U;ESCO and._~jC'\ agreed on a Joint effort to revise the Addis Ababa education targets.

(d) They agr-eed to join forces in running the .•

,C"

'I'echrri.ca.L Meeting on the application of science and technolozy and the UiT,i;SCO ;.Iinisterial fleeting on the same subJect.

The joint promotion of an ifrican Centre for educational research and technology, recommended by the Commission in resolution l73(VIII) is still under consideration. Until there is a definite improvement in the relations betlleen JCIl and UN2SCO, it would be necessary for the secretariat to carry

out single-handed the mandate entrusted to it by the sessions of the Commission, The Committee agreed that the attention of ioIember States should be

drawn to this situation so that in supporting UIGSCO global programmes,

they would ensure that the particular immediate interest of ifrica would not be overlooked.

•

ECO/INF/4 Page 31

Item 5 (a) (vii) - I10

::pl-e

Commi6sion' 6, cc-cpera tio/l wi th IL" ha s been developing gradually.

The conventional activi tiee of" t,he IL~,o in Africl', namely, suppressing

" '

forced labuur and securing the ratification and. enforcement of labour

. . 1"."" : . " . " . ' .

. '-.-.;

,,' ^' oodO/s, )).a".ebeen extended tv include training and trade-testing;' lIlanagament training; advice On small-scale industri~s and on prwblem6

of youth and 6ohool-leavers.

The mandate of EOj, raquir&s action to be taken to deal wit,h <the sooial implications of economic development. In 1961~CA published a document on the "Lcono,nic Implications of Racial Disoriminationin

~,:.'~-,^-.,,".

Suuthern Africa. The Commission has also been concerned with rese~tlement

of displaoed persons as a result of river-basin developments ,~d in, its attempts to work out an approach to integrated rural development it has

ooll~borated closely with 110, l~O and FAv offioials.

In oonsultation with the ~CA secretari,t, ILO deoided in

',to' establish its Africa regional headquarters in Addis Ababa and its

.,', I ' \

'su'b-rllgional offices have also been located to facilitate oo-operation with'ECA sub-regional offices.

7n the fields of manpower planning and training; integrated

riiraldeveloprnent; promotion of amall-scale industry; vooational training of yuuth; analysis of th3 impaot of sducational policies on the manpower situation the

EeA

has olose working relations with the ILv. Arrangements

"have also bG8n made for keeping the ,CA seoretariat in olose contaot with the 110 in its formulation uf the african aspeots of a world employment plan

ECO/INF/4 Page 32

Item 7 - Collection of information and pUblicizing the activities of ECA ECA has no properly devel0I>ed information service of its own. The present section was composed of one staff member from Headquarters and two from the ECA payroll. The Information Unit has, until now, been part of the United Nations Office of Public Information. Reports of meetings are cabled to New York for distribution to the world radio and press agencies.

Radio scripts are handled in the same way. Information about ECA thus reached African countries second-hand, compressed and as one 'i tern inchtded among a number of others.

A year ago, however, the secretariat started publicizing its own quarterly news bulletin entitled "African Target". This innovation adds to the number of newsletters - on Trade, Statistics, Planning, Natural Resources, etc. - most of which have been in circulation for five years or more. All ECA publications are channelled to member States through

•

•

"

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or External Affairs or a designated ministry, In spite of the Target, newsletters, press releases and the very large number of substantive documents published and released by ECA to African Governments and institutions very little was still known about the ECA and it was not unusual for persons in responsible positions in African countries to express ignorance of the nature and functions of ECA. Newsmen complained that news releases (which may take up to a fortnight to reach them because of the state of the postal services) arrive too late to be of use. Staff of the ECA could not recall coming upon ECA publications in the waiting rooms of ministers or officials even of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and

, - - - -

•

• ^Eco/nF/4_{Page 33}

in cons~quence United Nations institutions established much later, such as UNIDO and UNGTAD, were becoming better known in Africa than the ECA.

I~,was suggested that EGA might distribute more frequently feature material for African radio services such as,

(i) round-table discussion by meeting participantsI (ii) expert discussion of specifio developments;

(iii) ECA and specialized and operating agencies disoussions of UNDP projectsl

(iv) ECA discussion with donor countries of what individual donors are doing in African ,countries.

,This, however, would involve the,reproduction of at least 41 copies of the tape if every member State is,to receive a copy. It wae'stressed.

that wherever possible features should be such that membe:rSti>tes can use them whenever they receive them or several times over if found 'sufficiently interesting.

I t was suggested that the distribution list for the "African Target"

should be revised and. that circulation should not be restricted' 'to '~he

channel of Ministries of Foreign Affairs. Educational institutions, ap- propriate societies and recognized national organizations interested in economic development might be,put on the mailing list.

The Committee agreed that an attempt should be made to send by telex news items from EGA to selected Afrioan countries for radio broadcast.

This would follow very closely the arrangements made by the Voica' of America for example or the BBG relay stations. The Committee was to give consideration to the number of countries to be ohosen for this purpose as

ECO/INF/4 Page 34

we.ll as their Ipc;>tion and facilities for performing such f'unct.ione , T,he secreta,riat undertook toexaminetelexfac:Hi ties at its disposal as well as the finan()ial implications of such an arrangement.

•

•

•

It was suggested that one of the' most effeciive ways of ca tching the imaginaiion of. thEi,publie~,asthe use of films; The se'cr-e tar-aat pointed out that i t had no funds for the pr-oduct i on of Llms and thai filming was C\ssigned~to the Office of Public In f'or-mat i on in New York; Ii was inevitable that suitable films on African matters should be ·infrequent under these

arrange~ents. The Secretariat, however, had'tried to provide from facili- ties provided occasiona lly by.donor countrie s tti th produotion facilities.

The ninth session had been filmed by the USTS and ^t\<; p~'esenJ" a German filming unit is planning to ancLude ECA Ln J.ts· programme of the survey of eoonomic developmert and a,ctivitiesin Africa. 'I'he seoretariat was

co~operatingfully with this group.

The Committee welcomed the idea of vis~ts by members of the ECA film un^i,ts to countries seleoted on a ~ub-regio!lalbasic.· The purpose of such visits would be to,

(i) collect information about nat LonaI development;

(ii) publicize the aotivities of SCP;

(iii) dd.acusa or arri1hge pubLao d.i acus s i.ons on African development.

It was agreed that ,the secretarigt should provide a comprehensive review with detailed proposals on this subject fo~the'Committeels

consideration.