Events

The African Union Minerals Resources Ministers adopt the draft Statute of the African Minerals Development Center (AMDC)

26 November 2014 – Livingstone, Zambia. The 1st Extraordinary session of the African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development (CAMRMRD) at Ministers level, kicked off yesterday in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The meeting is organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) and co-hosted by both the Governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The objective is to consider important issues arising out of the 3rd Ministerial Conference held in Maputo, Mozambique in December 2013. African Union Ministers in charge of the Mineral sector are also gathered to validate the institutional and sustainable framework developed by the Senior Officials for the establishment of the AMDC.
The 1st Extraordinary session of the CAMRMRD directed the AUC to develop a Statute of the AMDC within the African Union structures reporting mechanism. The first Bureau Meeting of CAMRMRD held in Luanda, Angola on 11 – 13 August 2014, endorsed an AUC recommendation on the establishment of the AMDC as an African Union specialized Agency for the implementation of the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) and requested the AUC to prepare a study on the sustainability of this Centre.
At the opening ceremony of the meeting, the Commissioner for the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl, observed a minute of silence in memory of the late President Mr. Michael Sata, affectionately known as “King Cobra”. On behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H. E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, she welcomed the participants and thanked the Governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe for jointly hosting the Conference. “Thank you all for your participation which demonstrates your commitment in discussing what I believe to be one of the most critical issues for the inclusive development of Africa”, she said. The Commissioner acknowledged that the Africa Mining Vision is a major step forwards Africa’s commitment to change the situation. She recognized that to realize this Vision, implementation at the national and regional level is essential. “Our work this week builds on ongoing efforts across the Continent to develop and manage our mineral resources in a responsible and inclusive manner, in order to achieve the structural transformation of Africa and the realization of the African Union Agenda 2063”, she mentioned. She also emphasized the fact that the African Union Commission is engaged in the development of an African Commodities Strategy that supports commodity-led industrialization of Africa. She finally commended the Senior Officials for the dedication demonstrated over the past three days to come up with the important documents to be considered by the African Union Ministers in charge of mineral development.
The Minister of Mines and Mining Development of Zimbabwe, Hon. W. K. Chidakwa stressed the fact that the continent is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserve of bauxite, cobalt, diamond, phosphate rock, platinum-group metals, vermiculite and zirconium while gold extraction is the key driver of the Africa’s mining activities. However, he deplored the fact that in spite of this rich mineralization, African people are still in poverty. “Based on this flawed framework, most of the mining deals and activities on the continent have been opaque and detrimental to Africans. Corruption by both Public and Private sector players has compounded the malaise. Secondly, mining in Africa has been largely extractive without beneficiation or value addition. This has led to African countries exporting cheaply priced raw commodities, while importing expensive refined products”, he said. The Minister also pointed out that industrialization can only occur if the continent succeeds in transforming transient mineral wealth into other forms of lasting capital, which outlive the currency of mining and ensure intergenerational equity. “There is need for strong political will and commitment, entrenched belief in the power of indigenous ideas, a capacitated developmental state, visionary leadership, and a good understanding of Africa’s advantages and the dynamics of mineral commodities”, he indicated. To achieve Africa’s industrialization, Mr. Chidakwa stressed the need for the Africa Mining Vision to have an institutional framework to guide the domestication of the AMV. “Thus, trajectories to achieving the Vision at country and sub-regional levels must be different and phased. The African Minerals Development Center (AMDC) will thus play a key coordinating role in accelerating this process across the continent”, he concluded.
The Minister of Mineral Resources of Mozambique, Mr. Victor Borges also Chair of the meeting, thanked the two countries for the excellent facilities provided to the participants. He urged the African Governments to ensure good governance, macro-economic stability, clear policies and competitiveness for the sustainability of the African Minerals Development Center. He then officially declared the meeting open.
The meeting is attended by the African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the United Nations Development Programme and the African Union key partners.

Africa Industrialization Day and 2nd Chinese Expo, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Joint Press Release
Countries in Africa and China renew their commitment to jointly eliminating poverty
Conference to balance Africa’s economic transformation with development

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 19 November 2014: Concluding a large gathering to share experiences on reducing poverty, African and Chinese officials today called for a deepening of the partnership between the two partners.

Co-hosted by the Government of Ethiopia, the African Union Commission, the International Poverty Reduction Centre in China and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the conference explored the current state of development work in Africa and identified key areas for joint initiatives.

The conference was attended by around 200 participants, including government officials from African countries and China, diplomatic communities in Addis, as well as renowned experts and scholars and those from the private sector, civil society and international organizations.

H.E. Ms Fatima Haram Acyl, the Commissioner for the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission, recognized and acknowledged that no country has been able to reach an acceptable level of socio-economic development without industrialization. She underscored that China was at a much lower lever of development than Africa before becoming the second largest economy in the world. “This can only been achieved by Africa through hard work, sacrifices and pro-industrialisation policies. The success of China is quite inspiring, and we are learning from that experience and intend to take more advantage of our privileged partnership with China to progress, “she mentioned.

“Benchmarking China’s best practices in industrialization is essential,” emphasized also H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome, the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, “in that it is almost unthinkable to realize the African dream of becoming an industrialized, united and prosperous continent by 2063 only through Africa’s own technology generation.”

Over the past three decades China has seen considerable economic growth and succeeded in bringing millions of people out of poverty, thanks to specific policies designed to achieve agricultural and industrial growth and targeted initiatives to increase people’s opportunities and livelihoods.

At the same time, China is facing new challenges that are prompting the country to adapt its growth and poverty reduction strategies to face new realities in the global economy.

A background report “China’s Industrialization: Overview-Implications for Africa’s Industrialization” and a comparative study on Special Economic Zones in China and African countries jointly commissioned by UNDP China and IPRCC was presented at the conference. Drawing on the Chinese experience, the background report sheds light on Africa’s industrialization process, while looking at the possibility of improving Special Economic Zones in Africa to increase job and income opportunities.

“The Conference is one of the concrete steps to implement the Program for Strengthening Cooperation on Poverty Reduction between the People’s Republic of China and the African Union which was released during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to AU in May this year ”, noted Mr Si Shujie, Vice Minister of the China State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, “ to boost experience sharing and collaborations on poverty eradication between China and Africa is thus of mutual concern & benefit especially critical for efforts to attain the MDGs and post-2015 agendas. ”

“Well-crafted industrial development which supports inclusive growth and considers the environment will play a critical role in making transformation sustainable over the long-term”, said Eugene Owusu, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia, “In seeking to drive industrial growth, we need strong partnerships. Such South-South co-operation can bring new opportunities for exchange and learning, financing, investment, trade, and also industrial development.”

With the theme of ‘Industrial Development: Cross-Perspectives from Africa and China’, the conference focused on the future of Africa’s development with an emphasis on how to balance industrialization with inclusive growth.

Understanding that growth doesn’t necessarily translate into inclusive development, the conference looked into three main areas: analysis of challenges and opportunities, development of robust public-private partnerships and experience sharing from other industrializing countries in both Africa and Asia.

Poverty reduction has become a priority area of Africa-China cooperation as pointed out by Premier Li Keqiang during his visit in May 2014. Outcomes of this conference will be rolled out the follow-up initiatives and will also be fed into preparations for the next FOCAC in South Africa in 2015. Continuing initiatives in partnership between AUC, IPRCC and UNDP will strengthen cooperation between China and African nations and the South-South experience-sharing between China and Africa to bolster African growth underpinned by poverty reduction.

For media information, please contact:
AUC: Patient Atcho, Department of Trade and Industry, atchop@africa-union.org
UNDP (Addis Ababa): Eva Hinds, +25 115 444 386, eva.hinds@undp.org

Press release N°293/2014

African Union Commission consults African Geological Experts on the implementation of the African Minerals Geoscience Initiative (AMGI)

27 October 2014 – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The African Minerals Geoscience Initiative (AMGI) consultative meeting kicked off today at the African Union Commission headquarters. Organized by the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission with the support of the World Bank Group, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Minerals Development Center (UNECA/AMDC), the two-day meeting will ensure that AMGI responds to the implementation of the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) specifically under Programme Cluster 2 of the Implementation Action Plan of the AMV. This Cluster of the AMV Implementation Action Plan “Building a Sustainable Future for Africa’s Extractive Industry: From Vision to Action”, focuses on improving the geological; and Mineral information systems.

The main goal of the project is to develop a comprehensive knowledge of Africa’s mineral endowment and the expected result is to develop and obtain improved geological and mineral information systems to underpin investment in exploration and mining development. Participants include AU Member States at senior officials level namely experts responsible for geological information systems at the national level, selected Geological Survey Organisation (GSO) representatives, officials from Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and other experts.

The African Minerals Geoscience Initiative (AMGI) also called the “Billion Dollar Map”, is a pan-African initiative under the leadership of the African Union Commission for the collection, consolidation, interpretation and effective dissemination of national and regional geodata through a geo-portal, thereby increasing accurate and updated geo-scientific data available in public domain. It aims to bring 380 million dollars worth of investment into the organisation and interpretation of geological information from Africa. This would be done with the ultimate goal of seeking to facilitate broad-based governance changes in the mineral and other downstream and side-stream sectors, including: (i) improved licensing processes and procedures that efficiently leverage the natural resource wealth of countries; (ii) improved spatial planning, infrastructure development, forest and wildlife conservation through the use of regional resource corridors; and (iii) sustainable development policies for natural resources management.

In his opening statement, the Acting UNECA/AMDC Coordinator, Dr. Kojo Busia, recalled that the Africa Mining Vision was adopted by African Heads of State and Government in 2009 and a critical constraint identified is that “Most African states lack basic geological mapping or, at best, are poorly mapped.” He pointed out that the Action Plan for Implementing the AMV specifically addresses geology and mining information systems including the need for strengthening geological survey capacities and undertaking cross border and regional mapping initiatives. “Recently the African Minerals Development Centre with over 30 leading minerals and development experts from across Africa and beyond, prepared the Country Mining Visions Guidance document that sets out how Member States can domesticate the AMV through a participatory and consultative Country Mining Vision process. Again geology and mineral information systems feature prominently”, he emphasized. “AMGI is stated as being a part of the AMV. However, the AMV is not a smorgasbord where data can be treated separately from other minerals and development issues. As such, the context in which AMGI addresses geological data needs to be considered”, he mentioned.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Hussein Hassan, Head of Industry Division and Acting Director for the Department of Trade and Industry recalled the objective of the meeting and underscored the need for African Union Member States to consider geological data, including for example, governance, policy, licensing, revenue, upstream and downstream linkages, planning and development. “Ideally, AMGI would engage countries that have produced, or are committed to producing, Country Mining Visions (CMVs) to ensure that the greatest possible development benefits are realised from the data collected and disseminated as part of AMGI”, he stressed. He finally thanked the participants wishing them fruitful deliberations.

The outcomes of the meeting will be tabled at the upcoming 1st Extra-Ordinary Session of the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources Development (CAMRMRD), scheduled on 22 – 26 November 2014 in Livingston and Victoria falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe).

PA/EAT

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information, please contact: Mr. Frank Dixon Mugyenyi, Senior Industry Advisor - Email: MugyenyiF@africa-union.org

Media contact: Patient Atcho, Department of Trade and Industry – Email: atchop@africa-union.org

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
Follow us
Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission

Learn more at:
http://www.au.int

Uganda validates the African Union Report on Higher Education Services in Uganda

16 October, 2014 – Entebbe, Uganda. The department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission convened today a one-day workshop to deliberate on the African Union Report on Education services in Uganda. The workshop was organized by the African Union Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives of Uganda with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The objectives of the workshop was to bring together various stakeholders in the education sector to review the findings of the study on High Education Services in Uganda and share recommendations to improve competitiveness the sector.

Within the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade and the Framework for fast tracking the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017, the African Union Heads of State and Government identified trade in services as an important emerging opportunity and called upon the African Union Commission and Regional Economic Communities to assist Member States in service sector development .The key challenge with the service sector, is limited information for policy makers to rely on to make the necessary policy development. Hence, the case study on higher education sector in Uganda was commissioned; to promote the knowledge and understanding of exporting higher education services and identify best practices to be shared among AU Member States.

In his opening statement, Mr. Chenjerai Chibaya, on behalf of the Director for the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission expressed his gratitude to the Government of Uganda for hosting the workshop. He noted that education is one of the key components of the Agenda 2063, and recalled the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission with the University of South Africa (UNISA) to promote Research and Development. “The report on Education Services in Uganda is part of a series of studies in select African Union Member states to highlight success stories and lessons learned in services exports in Africa. The Education sector in Uganda has been identified as one of the case studies because of its success in the region”, he said. In his conclusion he stressed that the role of Government in the education sector is paramount to ensure quality, competitiveness and encourage investment.

Mr. Patrick Okilangole, the Ag. Commissioner External Trade Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, thanked the African Union Commission for commissioning the study on Education services in Uganda. He highlighted that education sector in Uganda is one of the most successful service exports in Africa. “The study examined the policy context for higher education in Uganda and investigated how supportive the policy has been to the higher education institutions exports efforts. The study further reviewed the strengths, weaknesses challenges as well as emerging opportunities to Uganda’s export of higher education”, he emphasized. “I am happy to note that this study attempted to identify the elements in Uganda’s regional and international commitments that Ugandan universities and institutions of higher learning can take advantage of the increase the enrollment of foreign students in Uganda”, he concluded.

For more information, please contact: Mrs. Carolyne Tuimuhimbise, Trade Advisor - Email: Tumuhimbisec@africa-union.org

Media contact: Patient Atcho, Department of Trade and Industry – Email: atchop@africa-union.org