Debrezeit, Ethiopia, 26th February 2019: His Excellency Amb. Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson of the Africa Union Commission took part in the opening session of the Retreat of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa), together with the Deputy Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) for Knowledge Delivery Mrs Giovani Biha, as well as the Director for Eastern Africa and Representative UNSDGs, Dr. Chimimba David Phiri. The Retreat was convened by the Joint RCM Secretariat in light of institutional reforms taking place at both the African Union Commission and the United Nations, as well as the ongoing efforts to strengthen the RCM-Africa framework and enhancing its monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

Twenty years since it became operational, the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa) is at a crossroads. The 11th Extraordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2018 made major decisions on institutional reform of the Union, while the UN Secretary General in his December 2017 report proposed key actions and recommendations to reposition the United Nations to deliver on its 2030 Agenda.

Considering the importance attached to ensuring effective linkages between regional, sub - regional and national level entities, to effectively meet Africa’s development agenda, both sides agreed on various principles underpinning working modalities and the principle of subsidiarity embodied in the AU reforms. H.E. the Deputy Chairperson commended the efforts undertaken to ensure that the RCM worked effectively, and assured the session of the full support of the AU leadership and reiterated the need to focus on African Union Priority areas underlined by the AUC Chairperson at the last RCM-Africa meeting held in December in Nairobi, namely Regional integration, Silencing the Guns, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM),Gender equality, Women & Youth, and Climate Change.

Both sides – AU and UN - reaffirmed their commitment to improved collaboration and consultations in support of AU priority development areas to ensure value realization in resource mobilized.

The retreat, which will continue up to the 1st March 2019, will enhance the understanding of the AU and UN reforms and their implications for RCM-Africa, its Subregional Coordination Mechanisms (SRCMs), the Regional UN entities; support identification of duplications, overlaps and gaps between partnership on Africa's Integration and Development Agenda (PAIDA) and the Joint AU-UN Framework for an Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security and the Framework for the integrated implementation of Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to promote synergistic implementation; Agreed working modalities to ensure optimal linkages between regional, sub-regional and national level entities, and to mainstream cross-cutting issues into the work of RCM-Africa; Revised joint work plans at regional and sub-regional levels, to include functioning and results-based Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks; Firmed up arrangements for the organization of the 20th Session of RCM-Africa; Agreed modalities for operationalizing the RCM-Africa information-sharing and collaboration platform.

It is worthy to note that a high-level meeting on RCM-Africa will take place in Marrakech, Morocco in March 2019. The outcome of the deliberations of this retreat will contribute to the way forward.

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@africa-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