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UNECA-AU experts meeting kicks off in Ethiopia

Xinhua, April 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The joint Ministerial Conference of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU)'s experts meeting kicked off Thursday in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The meeting has preceded the annual ministerial session scheduled for April 4, which will bring together the AU ministers of the economy and finance and the UNECA ministers of finance, planning and economic development for discussions on Africa's development.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the experts meeting, Anthony Mothae Maruping, AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, noted that the 9th edition of the annual ministerial conference deliberates, among others, on issues related to the current financial and economic challenges facing the African continent.

Fallen demand to and prices of Africa's export commodities, severe and prolonged drought, floods, strengthening of the U.S. dollar are the current challenges facing African countries, according to the Commissioner.

In his opening remarks, Abdalla Hamdok, UNECA Deputy Executive Secretary, noted that the experts meeting would contribute a collective thinking to elaborate a continental unified approach for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Hamdok said the experts would provide guidance on mechanisms for the adoption and successful integration of the first ten-year implementation plan of the development agenda at the national, regional and continental levels.

Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation, said the meeting provides platform to deliberate on synergies, opportunities and challenges in the implementation of the development agendas.

It also deliberates on ways of building integrated approach at different levels to ensure the agendas deliver meaningful outcomes in African countries, said the minister.

The two organizations also on Thursday convened the African Development Week at the UN Conference Center in Addis Ababa.

The Week, which is to last to April 5, is expected to have a number of side events on issues related to migration, industrialization, regional integration, and global agreements such as the SDGs. Enditem