Ethiopia's minister of state for finance and economic development, H.E. Mekonnen Manyazewal, has called for an increase in pro-poor investment strategies in order to enable Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He made the call on Thursday 29 March while opening the 26 th meeting of the Committee of Experts, which precedes the Economic Commission for Africa's (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Ato Mekonnen stated that the Ethiopian economy grew by an average of 10.7% in the last three years and that the country was making strong efforts to tackle poverty, improve health and education services and infrastructure. He however stressed that this growth cannot be taken for granted, and called on the experts to recommend strategies to ensure that growth is sustainable and benefits the poor.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony, United Nations Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, called for African governments to scale up investments in order to ensure the continent achieves the MDGs. Janneh reminded the experts that September this year would mark the mid-point to the MDGs target date of 2015.
“The central message of this Conference therefore is that this continent must scale up ALL interventions in order to meet the MDGs by the target date. And it must do so now, drawing on both internal and external resources,” he said.
The Executive Secretary also informed the meeting of ECA's ongoing efforts to deepen its collaboration with its main regional partners, namely the African Union Commission and African Development Bank, in order to provide stronger support to member states. Additionally, he highlighted the Commission's new programme orientation, detailed in the ECA 2007-9 Business Plan, which is geared towards promoting the regional integration agenda and helping to strengthen the capacity of African countries to meet the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs.
The experts meeting will run from 29 March to 1 April. The recommendations of the Committee of Experts will be presented to the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which runs from 2-3 April.
During the Conference, on 3 April, the Economic Commission for Africa will launch its annual flagship report, the Economic Report on Africa 2007 titled: “Accelerating Africa's Development through Diversification.” The report will provide an overview of economic prospects for the continent and look at diversification as a route to accelerating Africa's development.