AU FrontPage

Statement by Commissioner for Social Affairs at the 21st Session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 15 April 2013

Statement by H.E. Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, Commissioner for Social Affairs, at the Opening Session of the Ministers’ Meeting 9th Ordinary Session of the Labour and Social Affairs (LSAC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11 April 2013

Your Excellences, Hon. Ministers
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors here present,
Esteemed Social Partners,
Esteemed International Partners,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to open the first Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission. Before going further allow me to extend to all present here, warm greetings from Her Excellency, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, who, as you know, takes the well-being of the people of the Continent very seriously, especially social development issues, and in this case the well-being of workers, creation of decent jobs and employment for youth, women and persons with disabilities. What separates this meeting from other AU Ministerial Conferences is the tripartite nature of its composition. It provides a unique opportunity and a forum for workers, employers and government to interact and seek common ground.
This year we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the OAU-AU under the theme “Pan Africanism and African Renaissance”, five decades after the creation of our continental organization. It provides an opportunity to take stock of events over the past 50 years and to form a vision of labour markets in Africa for the next 50 years.
Over the last fifty years, we have listened to a lot of rhetoric on labour market issues and challenges. It is now time for us to act upon that rhetoric. Since the period of structural adjustment programmes, the labour and employment sector has borne the bulk of the cost of regulatory framework reforms and downsizing of labour market institutions. It has been, and still hard for African countries to work toward effective labour institutions after years of drastic structural adjustment reforms. In the area of demographic dividends, the gains were not translated into improved labour market outcomes proportionately to the sustainable high economic growth rate of the last two decades.
On average more than 70% of the workforce is engaged in the informal economy and rural sector activities in our Member States. The labour market institutions do not address the needs of the workers in these sectors in terms of social protection, skills development, employment services and workforce management, productivity improvement, social dialogue and knowledge development through appropriate research and survey programmes. To a great extent, these challenges also apply to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises which are poorly covered by the services offered by the labour market institutions, in particular the labour inspection and public employment services.
Your Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We should strive to ensure that in the next 50 years, all workers, whatever their sectors, have access to decent work, decent income, appropriate social protection regimes, better working and living conditions. We should also strive to fulfill our commitment to reduce youth and women unemployment by 2% per year. This will require bold steps towards well-functioning labour markets with developed and effective market institutions to cater for labour inspection, social protection, social dialogue, placement services, labour market information, policy planning, including monitoring and evaluation.
To this effect, we cannot escape the necessity to rethink the missions, roles and desirable outcomes of labour market institutions in Africa and make them work for poverty alleviation, social cohesion and inclusive pro-poor growth, focusing on outcomes of the growth process that seek to benefit all strata of the society.
The Africa Union, in particular the Labour and Social Affairs Commission, has the responsibility, in collaboration with key international partners, to provide clear leadership in the debate on labour market reforms in the continent and to make these markets more responsive to the quest for a sustainable inclusive growth. We need to look beyond the 10% of workers in the modern sector, listen to the overwhelming majority of the workforce in the informal economy and rural sector, and join our efforts in bringing them progressively into the mainstream economy to secure decent jobs for them.
Indeed, the Informal Economy is an area where Africa can be creative in developing innovative job market systems, be among the leading regions of the world and contribute to the conceptual, policy and technical work at global level. It is our responsibility to engage in such work. We could establish an observatory on the informal economy which could be to the establishment of the African Centre of the Informal Economy.
Advocating for inclusive pro- job growth combined with employment and social protection, the Labour and Social Affairs Commission convenes at an opportune time when the international community has embarked on consultations in putting together the post-2015 development agenda. The LSAC has the distinct opportunity to contribute significantly to this process by ensuring that job creation, productive employment, decent work and social protection are adequately reflected in the post 2015 Development.
Your Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Two more areas and challenges deserve our attention. Firstly, Africa is still the least productive region in the world, lagging far behind other regions. According to the 2012 AUC-ECA MDGs Report. This situation will worsen unless vigorous measures are taken to address it. It is, therefore, imperative to look into the critical challenge of productivity by further engaging in the implementation of the AU Productivity Agenda for Africa.
The second challenge is the increasing trend of regional and inter-regional labour migration. The Regional Economic Communities have taken remarkable steps towards the construction of regional integrated labour markets in Africa, facilitating among other things, international recruitment, portability of social benefits-pension, health and other benefits. The Commission and the RECs should take advantage of these steps and engage in implementing the relevant provisions of the AU Migration Policy Framework. In so doing, account should also be taken of the ILO Conventions on Migration of workers and the policies of the International Organization on Migration.
Your Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish to conclude by affirming that the Commission stands ready to ensure the implementation of the decisions taken by the 9th Ordinary Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission, in collaboration with the RECs and international partners.
I thank you for your kind attention.

Statement of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Chairperson of the African Union Commission
On the occasion of the Handover Ceremony of the 50th Anniversary Torches to the Member States

Your Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and Chairperson of the Executive Council;
Your Excellencies, Ministers from Member states and visiting Ministers
Commissioners of the AUC
Executive Secretary of the ECA
Heads of all the AU and UN Organs
Members of the Permanent Representatives Committee
Partners and citizens here gathered
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
Members of the press,

At the onset, allow me to welcome you all to Addis Ababa. This city is of historical significance since it hosted the first major milestone in our journey towards total emancipation. The convening of thirty-two independent states in the Conference of Independents African States in May 1963, remains perhaps one of the most important statements undertaken by Africans towards self determination and prosperity.

Almost fifty years on from that watershed moment, we are favoured with the opportunity to reflect on the road travelled by Africans towards securing unity, prosperity and peace. The bouquet of events and milestones, at the Union, REC, Member State and Non State Levels, which have been developed will assist us to reflect on critical actions required to secure continental unity, shared prosperity, and lasting peace.
We ought to ultimately “harness the natural and human resources of our continent to the total advancement of our peoples in all spheres of human endeavour”, as envisaged by the OAU Charter of 1963.

These reflections are opportune because the year 2013 has been declared the Year of Pan Africanism and the African Renaissance. It is our view that this year has the potential of being a watershed year, since never before in our history has so much been in our favour. Never before have we had so much potential and growth. Never before, has the continent been favoured with such a young, vibrant and relatively more educated population. It is these comparative advantages that must be turned into meaningful opportunities towards a shared prosperity and lasting peace.

Through the symbolic lighting of these torches, which we send to all our member states today, we hope that the flame of hope shall shine through the continent. We have therefore encouraged our member states to consider popularising the AU and the torches in their nations. The torches symbolise our desire to reverse the current story line of despair into the real narrative of opportunity and potential. These torches are also a symbol of our collective will to brighten Africa’s future. These torches are a symbol of our achievements with regard to development, democracy and governance. These torches are a symbol of our pride to belong to Africa.

The commemoration of the fifty years of the OAU also coincides with the tenth year of the existence of the African Union (AU), which we constituted so as to promote “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena”.

Given the historic nature of this event, the 50th Anniversary Commemoration will therefore facilitate and celebrate African narratives of past, present and future. We hope to enthuse and energize the African population and use their constructive energy to accelerate a forward-looking agenda of Pan-Africanism and Renaissance in the 21st century.

To effectively develop this forward-looking agenda we will engage all sectors of our societies here and in the diaspora. We have adopted thematic focus areas in our year-long programme, to provide a platform for focused programmatic discussion. These themes recognise the areas in which we have recorded progress. These themes also facilitate for the recognizing of the challenges we face. The themes, which are currently being projected on the screens in this hall include: Regional Integration, Education and Human Resources, as well as Health and Women.

The impact of the main events (from 19 to 27 May) and the yearlong activities will be assessed against the extent to which we are able to promote and define Pan African Values. These values will underpin the African Agenda over the next five decades. For that reason, I hope that all delegations will bring these messages back home so that, in unison, with each African from within and outside the continent, we memorably celebrate the golden jubilee of the OAU-AU.

Finally, before I invite, H. E. Teodros Adhanom, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and Chairperson of the Executive Council to light the torch of the Golden Jubilee on behalf of the Council, I would like to recall the words of one of the greatest sons of the soil Chinua Achebe (who sadly recently passed on):
“Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am and what I need is something I have to find out myself”.

Consequently, the current realities and futures of Africa can only and must be developed by Africans for Africans. In so doing we must emphasise solidarity, unity, shared prosperity and lasting peace.

Together, let’s arise for One Africa in peace and prosperity.
Ensemble, mobilisons-nous pour une Afrique unie dans la paix et la prospérité
Juntos mobilizemo-nos para uma África unida na paz e prosperidade
Linan had, maahan min ajili Ifrikriya mutahida yassu duha assalamu waliz dihar

I thank you.

Statement By H.E. Dr. Maxwell M. Mkwezalamba
Commissioner For Economic Affairs
African Union

At The
Closing Of The Experts’ Meeting Of The Sixth Joint Annual Meetings Of The Au Conference Of Ministers Of Economy And Finance And The Eca Conference Of African Ministers Of Finance, Planning And Economic Development

24 March 2013
Abidjan, Côte D’ivoire

Excellence M. Abdallah Hamdok, Secrétaire exécutive adjoint de la Commission économique pour l’Afrique,

Professeur Lambert Bamba, Président du Bureau du Comité des Experts,

Honorables Représentants des Communautés Economiques régionales, des organisations régionales et africaines, des banques centrales africaines et des institutions internationales,

Honorables délégués, Mesdames et Messieurs,

1. Je voudrais, au terme de cette Sixième Conférence des Ministres de l’Economie et des Finances de l’Union Africaine et de la Conférence des Ministres africains des Finances, de la Planification et du Développement économique de la Commission économique pour l’Afrique, vous adresser mes chaleureuses félicitations pour la qualité du travail accompli et la pertinence des propositions faites pour, enfin, permettre à l’Afrique de réussir son programme d’industrialisation.

2. Comme vous le savez, le faible niveau d’industrialisation du continent constitue un des principaux obstacles au développement économique et social du continent africain. Il était par conséquent temps, je dirais même indispensable, de revisiter notre programme d’industrialisation. Les échanges et résolutions prises à l’issue de cette conférence s’inscrivent dans cette dynamique.

Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. The meeting of the Committee of Experts had interesting and important issues to deliberate on, as usual. In particular, I wish to point out the discussion on the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda, which is an on-going global debate at the moment. Evidence shows that Africa is not in a position to attain all the MDGs by 2015. The 2013 Africa MDGs Report that was presented to the meeting of the Committee of Experts, like previous Reports, shows that Africa has made limited progress in attaining some very crucial targets , including child and maternal health, and provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

2. It is in recognition of the likelihood that Africa will not attain all the MDGs by the target date of 2015 that consultations have been undertaken with African stakeholders to identify Africa’s priorities for the post-2015 development agenda. The outcome document from the consultations was shared with the Committee of Experts and a draft African common position on the post-2015 development agenda will be presented to Ministers for approval before submission for adoption by the AU Summit in May 2013.

3. The African common position should serve as a reference document for the African voice in the crafting of a post-2015 development agenda. This position will feed into the global process that is currently underway through a High Level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda that was set up by the United Nations Secretary General. It is, therefore, imperative for us to ensure that the consultations that were undertaken in Africa are reflected in the global outcome document of the High Level Panel through an African common position. I wish also to agree with the meeting that we define goals, targets and indicators for the post 2015 development agenda that reflect Africa’s priorities.

4. The debate on the theme of the Conference was intense and the Committee came up with some concrete recommendations that, if implemented, will lead to the accelerated industrialization of Africa. It is gratifying to note that the Committee of Experts acknowledged the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa Action Plan as central to the industrial development of African countries. I am convinced that implementation of the Action Plan will ensure coordination of industrial policies and help accelerate implementation of our regional and continental priorities.

5. Some key issues were raised that were deemed pertinent for industrialization and value addition. One was the need for countries to promote technological innovation through research and development. Another was the need for adequate resources to finance the industrialization process, and that requires massive resources mobilization. The issue of financing leads me to highlight the importance of finalizing the issue of Alternative Sources of financing the African Union as soon as possible.

6. Other issues that have been on the agenda for several years which require finalization are the establishment of a Pan-African Stock Exchange and the African Monetary Fund. The Commission wishes to call upon to Member States to provide their comments at their earliest opportunity.

7. I would also urge the member states to sign and ratify the African Charter on Statistics. As of today, 27 countries have signed whereas only 8 have ratified the Charter. I would also like to call upon Member States to allocate adequate resources to National Statistics Offices for the production of quality statistics in the framework of the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (ShaSA).

Honorables délégués, Mesdames et Messieurs,

8. Pour terminer mon propos, je voudrais remercier les équipes de la Commission de l’Union Africaine, de la CEA et du Comité National d’organisation pour les efforts appréciables consentis dans l’organisation de cette conférence. Mes remerciements vont également aux interprètes pour l’excellent travail abattu, et tous les délégués pour leurs remarques et contributions constructives.

9. Enfin, je voudrais vous adresser à vous, Monsieur Président du Bureau du Comité des Experts, mes sincères félicitations pour avoir dirigé avec efficacité nos débats. Vous méritez notre reconnaissance et tout notre soutien.

10. As I am attending my last meeting in my capacity as Commissioner for Economic Affairs, I wish to call for your support – invite you to support my successor, Dr. Anthony Masuping of Lesotho.

11. Honorables délégués, Mesdames et Messieurs, je vous remercie de votre attention.

Remarks of H.E. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime,
Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission

on the occasion of Meeting the President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Addis, March, 15, 2013

Excellency, Ms. Jane Karuku, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Members of Staff of the AGRA, AUC-DREA and other members

Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me start by thanking Your Excellency, Mme Jane Karuku for honouring my invitation and I wish to welcome you to Addis Ababa and, in particular, to the African Union Commission.

Let me start by stating that the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture which I head is much bigger than the size you see here, and it covers over ten sectors, subdivided into two strategic areas of intervention which are: Agriculture and Food Security, and Environment and Natural Resources Management. In addition to the Headquarter-based Office, my department has 6 specialised technical offices under it, which are IBAR in Nairobi dealing with livestock, PATTEC in Addis Ababa handling tse-tse and trypanosomiasis, PANVAC in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia, in charge of veterinary vaccines IAPSC in Yaounde on phytosanitary matters, SAFGRAD in Ouagadougou coordinating dryland research and development and Fouta Djallon in Conakry on integrated highland development. As you may note, we spread across the continent.

I value this moment as it falls within the framework of the productive partnership between the African Union Commission and the Alliance for a Green Revolution.

Within the field of agriculture, the AUC-DREA and the AGRA have been collaborating in multiple engagements and we have initiatives where we have been quite close in supporting AU Member States to implement the decisions of the AU Policy Organs up to the highest level, especially in the context of the overarching framework provided by the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) with a view to ensuring increased agricultural production, productivity, food and nutrition security. They include extension services, input delivery, output market development and functioning, and farmer organization and capacity building.

I wish, at this juncture, to commend AGRA for the continued partnership with AUC and for the work in advancing agricultural development at country-level across the continent. Working together in these and many other areas, we have registered significant achievements for our continent and especially at the Member States’ level. And what we have noted is that the more we deliver, the more is demanded of us. Hence the need for our continued improvement of our work in mutual reinforcement and complementarity to bring forth the desired results and impacts especially at implementation level and bringing on board real players, The Women.

I, therefore, wish to call for closer collaboration between AGRA and AUC-DREA in furtherance of the shared goal of increased agricultural production, productivity, food and nutrition security on the continent. We need to step up these especially now as we vision and dream for a better continent, and as we mark 10 years of the existence of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), in addition to other related processes we are engaged in.

I hope you also know that the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government decided in July last year to declare 2014 The AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security. We will need to work more closely to ensure that the year brings to fruition some of the ongoing pertinent initiatives in the context of CAADP. We will consider some of these during the CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting scheduled for Addis Ababa on 25-27 March 2013 and we hope that AGRA will participate fully during this meeting that will focus on preparations for 2014 AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security as we look at where we want to go from here given the interrelated nature of agriculture with environment, climate change, water and other key sectors.

Looking more critically at agriculture, I need not over-emphasize the importance of this sector for our continent, our nations and our communities, from food and nutrition to jobs and incomes. If Africa took agriculture more seriously, we would be respected and Africa would participate more effectively in global development. Other continents have successfully used agriculture as a premise for development, why not Africa?

I must, nonetheless, say that in partnership, we all share the joy of seeing 30 countries having signed CAADP Compacts that encapsulate multi-stakeholder consensus and partner buy-in on the key drivers of agricultural production, productivity, food and nutrition security. We have also seen Regional Compacts starting with the one of ECOWAS and the upcoming one of COMESA, and others in the pipeline.

We are also happy to see that more and more of these countries have gone further to draw up credible investment plans and also to put in their own resources and more investments in agriculture as they also mobilize bilateral and multilateral public and private support. We see more commitment by AU Member States at bilateral and multilateral levels and we need to take advantage of this state of affairs and plan together and implement as we are targeting the same constituency. We have seen good responses from partners particularly countries prepared investment plans. It is important and imperative that the AGRA buys into the investment plans agreed to by countries with all partners. I do appreciate the much work done by the AGRA.

We would like to see AGRA involved more in the process of putting together investment plans. Wherever you have been you have added value. We want countries to take advantage of how AGRA does business. As we mark 10 years since CAADP was adopted in 2003, we as AUC, AfDB, UNECA, NPCA, RECs and other Pan African institutions including AGRA, are called upon to step up our efforts in sustaining the momentum so that our people see concrete results on the ground in terms of food, nutrition, jobs and incomes. There is talk of Millennium Development Goals but for us it is about African dignity and without food we can’t have dignity. As we celebrate this year the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the OAU, predecessor to AU, we will focus on the vision of a food and nutrition as we consider the Theme of the Golden Jubilee: Pan Africanism and African Renaissance. There are many activities involved apart from agriculture and we have not forget our other areas of intervention

I am sure you have heard, time and again, that we have many declarations and decisions on strategic commodities, on value chain development, on fertilizer use, on irrigation, on agricultural research and technology, on sanitary and phytosanitary issues, on post-harvest loss reduction, GMOs and so on. It is our collective efforts that we will support AU Member States to translate these into reality: food, water, sanitation, and environmental sustainability. It doesn’t help when we get decisions and not have them implemented.

I would like to draw your attention to the African Fertiliser Financing Mechanism. You are implementing input delivery. We cannot increase productivity unless we have inputs and particularly fertilizers. It is important for AGRA to support the AFFM to take root. As you are aware, it arose out of the decision of Heads of State and Government at the Abuja Summit of 2006. A review was done and it was noted that unless African agriculture accesses fertilizers we cannot make it. The figure was 8 kg per ha and now it has increased to 11 kg per ha probably because of the collective efforts including those of AGRA – but the AU Abuja Summit decision called for 50 kg per ha. We need to actualize the AFFM. We can discuss this matter much further. At the CAADP PP we plan to call a meeting with other players on the fertilizer use, production, accessibility and marketing.

As part of our partnership building, we have been engaging the G8 among others especially since 2009 in L’Aquila, then also in 2012 in Camp David and currently with the next Presidency, the UK which has indicated that agriculture and food security will remain high on agenda. We shall be sharing our perspectives so that we all speak with one voice. I am sure AGRA also engages a number of partners in favour of African Agriculture. We hope you will continue to play your due role and let’s continue to be open to one another and work as a team. We serve the same constituency: African citizens, communities and nations. The partners who support us and those who support you are all our partners. If African Agriculture does well it is to our credit.

We all appreciate that our collaboration is more in the strategic area of intervention of agriculture and food security but my Department, as I indicated, also deals with sustainable environment and natural resources management. In this connection and with respect to climate change, I would like to say that this is a subject that speaks for itself owing to the frequency and intensity of its impacts in terms of erratic weather patterns punctuated by floods, droughts and other natural disasters. Again, in this area as well, our institutions will have to work closely and productively in supporting our continent and its Member States in building resilience through among others climate smart agriculture and turning them away from emergencies such as those witnessed in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel. Also related to this is that recently we put in place a programme called the African Risk Capacity, an initiative championed by the African Union Commission and specifically the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture in collaboration with and with support from partners particularly the World Food Programme (WFP). The initiative aims at building the capacity of AU Member States to manage disaster risk and emergency response more effectively by providing timely resources through a Member States-owned mutual insurance company.

In a nutshell, these are some of the areas that I wanted to highlight by way of introduction of my Department as they relate to our partnership with AGRA and we welcome your views on how we can take them forward together in the most efficient and effective way as our Member States need and deserve our services to deliver urgent and concrete actions, results and impacts in all the areas I mentioned. I trust that our partnership can as in the past meet the expectations of our Member States.

The African Union Commission will continue to play its core roles of policy harmonization, partnership building, resource mobilization and advocacy for African causes. This we will do with support of other Pan African institutions, stakeholders and partners including AGRA in the four pillars of peace and security, regional integration, capacity building and shared values. We are right now in the process of developing the new AU Strategic Plan 2014-2017, not just AUC Strategic Plan but Africa-wide Strategic Plan, that will redefine our priorities and at the same time we are working out the vision for the next 50 years. We will appreciate the input of partner institutions like AGRA particularly in your areas of specialisation.

I look forward to our fruitful discussions. Let me now invite you to make your remarks.

Thank you for your attention.