Niamey, 22 September 2016 (ECA / SRO-WA) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Economic and Statistical Observatory for Sub-Saharan Africa (AFRISTAT) sealed in Niamey, Niger, on 22 September 2016, a cooperation framework to consolidate their partnership in supporting the development of statistics in Africa.
In this respect, a document-signing-ceremony to formally lay down the foundation for cooperation between both institutions was held in the premises of ECA's Sub-Regional Office for West Africa (SRO-WA), in presence of Mr. Dimitri Sanga, Director of SRO-WA, and Mr. Cosme Vodounou, Director General of AFRISTAT.
In their respective speeches delivered during the signing ceremony, Mr. Vodounou and Mr. Sanga stressed the need to work together and to seek the necessary synergies for the development of statistics and the implementation of their programs. They later mentioned the main identified areas for cooperation, which include:
- The collection, sharing and analysis of data;
- Enhancing the capacity of countries as per statistics;
- Monitoring and evaluating the benchmarks of major international and regional development agendas, especially, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU);
- Supporting the implementation of major sub-regional initiatives involving the regional economic communities (RECs) and other intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) with integration mandate.
The consolidation of the cooperation framework with AFRISTAT has a double importance for the ECA.
First, it is highly relevant and topical within the context of developing the country profiles of the ECA States. This context is, notably, marked by the affirmation of the role played by the ECA in providing Member States and all other stakeholders of the continent’s development with reliable statistical and updated data which meet international standards and are, primarily, from national sources.
In this light, AFRISTAT is a reference partner that is committed, since its inception in 1996, to the mission of "contributing to the development of economic, social and environmental statistics in Member States and fostering their skills in the said development area".
Secondly, the partnership with AFRISTAT, which counts 22 Member States across ECOWAS, COMESA, AMU, CEN-SAD, ECCAS, making 5 out of the 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs), is part of the framework to foster technical cooperation with the RECs and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs).
In this vein, the ECA, through its Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, has already launched a program to support the establishment of a platform for action involving thirty IGOs of West Africa including, particularly, ECOWAS, UEMOA and the Mano River Union (MRU), since September 2015.
As a reminder, the signing of the cooperation framework with AFRISTAT took place in conjunction with AFRISTAT's Executive Committee meeting and the events marking its Twentieth Anniversary, scheduled from 26 to 30 September 2016, in Niamey, Niger.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org