UNDP Africa Annual Management Meeting held in Addis Ababa
The 2009 Annual Meeting of UNDP regional directors, UN resident coordinators/UNDP representatives, organized by the UNDP country office in Ethiopia, took place at the UN-ECA in Addis Ababa from 16th to 19th June, in the presence of the UNDP Administrator and Chair of the UN Development Group, Ms. Helene Clark, who was recently appointed to this post. The meeting, which had the theme: “Addressing the Impact of the Current Global Financial Crisis on Africa’s Development”, was opened by Ato Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Ethiopia, who welcomed the participants on behalf of the Government in his address at the inauguration of the three-day event. Also present at the meeting were government, donor, and civil society representatives and members of the diplomatic community. The event brought together UN Resident Coordinators and UNDP Country Representatives covering 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Following the opening ceremony, a high-level panel discussion entitled, “Global Financial Crisis: Implications for Growth and Development in Africa” was held with individual presentations made by three distinguished panellists, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and chaired by Ms Helene Clark. In his presentation on “Africa’s Policy Response to the Global Financial Crisis and how the International Community should help Africa”, Prime Minister Meles highlighted that the first crisis to affect Africa was caused by the accelerating increase in commodity prices, particularly that of oil, and the decrease in the price of agricultural commodities, in respect of which he gave detailed analysis.
According to Prime Minister Meles, to help Africa at this particular juncture, the international community should give Africa the necessary policy space to adjust to the changed circumstances; extend more development assistance, as Africa needs resources more than in the past in light of the more hostile global economic environment that appears to be emerging; and, compensate Africa for damages caused to it as a result of climate change, which it did not create, but is one of the factors that are expected to make the transformation of African economies even more difficult than in the past. He particularly emphasized the problem of climate change by indicating that global warming is hitting Africa first and hitting it hard.
The Prime Minister underlined the need for Africa to be represented by one delegation at the upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, as was the case during the recent G-20 summit in London. This will enable Africa to speak in one voice and to ensure that Africa’s legitimate interests would be effectively promoted and that progresses so far made would not be reversed as a result of the effects of the crisis. He further stressed that, in order to accelerate development in Africa, agricultural transformation is central, hence the need for a green revolution. He also added that Africa should be able to add value to what it produces. The Prime Minister further added that there is no single solution to the problem and achieving results should depend on the policy choices of each country based on realities on the ground.
Ms Helen Clark, in her remarks at the panel discussion, stressed that without concrete action to combat the global economic and financial crisis now, the prospect of any progress on the MDGs could stall, or might even be reversed. She added that there is higher probability of the outbreak or recurrence of conflict during severe economic shocks and, therefore, urged UNDP officials to continue engaging with their respective host governments to identify the remedial actions so as to reduce such adverse consequences of the crisis.
During her brief working stay in Ethiopia, Ms Clark also met high level government officials, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Speaker of the House of Peoples Representatives, Ambassador Teshome Toga. The discussions revolved around a number of important issues of cooperation between Ethiopia and the UNDP. The discussions also focused on the ways through which the international community could support Ethiopia in its endeavours to achieve the MDGs. She also met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Tekeda Alemu and held talks on various regional issues.