As its Capacity Development Strategy makes clear, UNECA’s overarching focus is to promote policies and programmes that strengthen the process of African economic integration by “assisting member States in the development of common positions towards international negotiations as well as in enhancing the skills of African negotiators to get optimal deals for their countries and region from bilateral and international negotiations”. In the same context, the March 2015 Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa notes how the natural resources sector is prone to the generation of illicit financial outflows by means including “secret and poorly negotiated contracts”. It was in appreciation of this reality that, in May 2015, the Capacity Development Division of UNECA launched the annual policy dialogue on natural resources contract negotiations. Likewise, the African Ministers of Finance declared, at their 2 June 2003 meeting on Aid, Trade, Debt, IMF and HIV/AIDs, that there was a need to establish a legal technical assistance facility to help Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (“HIPCs”) in Africa to address the problems of creditor litigation – which ultimately led to the establishment of the African Legal Support Facility.

Concept Note