GENERAL ASSEMBLY DEBATE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICA: STATEMENT BY H.E. MARTHA A. A. POBEE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2018

Thank you, Madam Chair, for giving me the floor. My delegation also thanks the Secretary General for the excellent reports on this agenda item and commends the Special Adviser on Africa and her team for the successful launch of the Africa dialogue series and for facilitating the rich exchange of views on the several critical issues of concern to Africa in the past three days.

Madam Chair,

Africa’s development priorities have been clearly expressed in several continental and global landmark agreements. The most significant, Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the strategic vision for transformative development in Africa, and ten-year implementation plan (2014-2023), hold the promise to enhance inclusive economic and social progress. The Agenda’s emphasis on agriculture development, infrastructure development and industrialization, will greatly facilitate job creation and poverty eradication on the continent.

Equally transformational is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which derives many of its goals and targets from Agenda 2063 and which, together with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development provide a comprehensive framework for action in the spirit of global partnership and solidarity.

My delegation is particularly pleased that In the past year, the African Union has concluded several major continental agreements including the Africa Continental Free Trade Area; the Single Air Transport Market; and the continent-wide protocol on the free movement of people, all of which are important pillars of Agenda 2063, and a signal of the collective resolve and determination of Africans to create the conditions necessary for the realization of the continental vision of socio-economic transformation.

Africa has demonstrated leadership in the development of the continent and is charting the continent’s path to prosperity. The sense of enterprise, creativity, innovation and hard work to engineer this transition is already in progress and what is required is coherence and complementarity between global, continental, regional, national and local effort for effective implementation.

My delegation welcomes, in this regard, the renewed efforts of the NEPAD Agency to strengthen national and regional capacities to coordinate the implementation of the agendas. We also wish to underscore the important work of the African Peer Review Mechanism in fostering good governance as an enabler of growth and sustainable development.

Madam Chair,

The African Union-United Nations Framework for the Implementation of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted in January 2018 is a significant development. Similarly, the Joint United Nations–African Union Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security will inure to sustaining peace as an important prerequisite for sustainable development. We urge continued collaboration in the implementation of strategies and programmes for a comprehensive development of Africa.

Madam Chair,

As rightly indicated in the Secretary-General’s report, global economic conditions have a considerable bearing on the performance of African economies and consequently the pace of progress in implementation of the agendas.

Financing is a critical element for the achievement of development. As African countries redouble their efforts to mobilize domestic resources, we call on partners to fulfill their ODA commitments to complement these efforts. We also call for urgent international action to help combat illicit financial flows and the return of such assets to their countries of origin.

As FDI flows to Africa continued the downward trend in 2016, we also take note that Africa’s new and emerging development partners have made significant commitments in terms of FDI and other support ranging from trade in natural resources to agriculture and construction.

We welcome the launch of the G-20 Africa Partnership in July 2017 and hope that cooperation with the continent will be strengthened with Agenda 2063 as the guiding framework.

We reaffirm the importance of the role of the private sector, as well as the role of public-private partnerships, in meeting the challenges of sustainable development.

Madam Chair,

Both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063 recognize the importance of peace and stability, not only as critical enablers but also as important components of sustainable development. In line with this aspiration, Africa has also continued, with the support of the United Nations and development partners, to deal with current conflicts, address emerging challenges to peace, security and development, such as the rise of terrorism and violent extremism as well as the growing number of migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons

We reaffirm that Sustaining Peace is particularly poignant in Africa and the mutually-reinforcing and interlinked pillars of peace, security, development and human rights must be reinforced to find lasting solutions to conflicts on the African continent. Tackling the root causes of conflict such as youth unemployment, inequality, and economic and social exclusion, including through the African Peace and Security Architecture and the African Governance Architecture will be critical to Africa’s transformation.

The role of women in sustainable development cannot be over-estimated. Equally important is their indispensable role in peacebuilding and sustaining peace. For this reason, Ghana welcomes the collaboration between the UN and the AU to enhance women’s political leadership and participation in conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding,

Deliberate efforts must be made by Governments to seek ways to promote inclusive participation of the youth in development through the creation of policies, in partnership with the private sector. Our youthful continent of Africa makes it imperative to include them if we mean to achieve the goals and targets of Agenda 2063 as well as the 2030 Agenda.

I thank you for your attention.