845 (XXXIX) Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa

The Conference of Ministers,

          Recalling the guiding principles of the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the World Millennium Summit in 2000;

          Mindful that these guiding principles and objectives are shared by the New Partnership for African's Development (NEPAD) that was adopted in 2001 as the African leadership vision framework;

          Deeply concerned by the prospects for African countries not meeting some or all of the MDGs by 2015.

          Noting that most African countries are engaged in the preparation and implementation of poverty reduction strategies (PRS) in collaboration with the international financial institutions (The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) in the framework of the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, or similar national action plans;

          Recalling the Abuja Ministerial Statement of 15 May 2005 which has reaffirmed the vital importance of the MDGs as a framework for achieving poverty reduction and advancing development in Africa;

          Taking into account the outcome of the 2005 Millennium Summit and the Cairo African Plenary on PRS and implementation of the MDGs, especially in respect to the need for African countries to align their national PRS or similar national action plans with the MDGs so as to bring coherence into the various planned actions aimed at achieving those goals by 2015;

          Noting with appreciation that African countries have already taken steps to align their second generation of PRS with the MDGs and have elaborated comprehensive implementation plans;

          Noting that African national efforts could be supported by an active mobilization of domestic resources and appropriate aid architecture, especially to ensure the effective implementation of national priority programmes for the achievement of the MDGs;

          Noting also with concern the persistent view expressed by Africa's development partners, including the international financial institutions, on the lack of absorptive capacities of African countries to accommodate an increased inflow of aid;

          Cognizant of the fact aid conditionality's often deter the utilization of aid inflows and, consequently, the attainment of development goals;

          Stressing the importance of reliable statistics and data to plan, monitor and evaluate progress in the achievement of the MDGs;

          Having examined document E/ECA/CM.39/5 entitled ''Progress and Challenges in Aligning Poverty Reduction Strategies with the Millennium Development Goals;

  1. Encourages African countries to pursue their efforts in the alignment of their respective second generation PRS of similar national action plans with a strong commitment to achieve the MDGs;
  2. Invites African Governments to establish a conducive environment that would promote broad-based stakeholder participation and, in particular, strengthen the role of the private sector in the mobilization of domestic resources for translating national development policies and programmes into concrete action;
  3. Invites Africa's parties, especially the international financial  institutions, to assist African countries in the alignment of their poverty reduction strategies to the Millennium Development Goals and their integration into their national macro-economic framework;
  4. Encourages those development partners, including the multilateral finance institutions, to align development assistance to national priority programmes for better utilization of national implementation capacities;
  5. Requests the secretariat of the ECA to assist African countries to strengthen their capacities in the area of data collection and statistical analyses in order to develop performance indicators and statistics for MDG tracking.