The United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, has applauded the numerous contributions from the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) initiative, which have helped in promoting good governance across Africa.
A statement from NEPAD, made available to PANA here Wednesday, quoted the UN scribe as describing the two African home-grown initiatives as major instruments for poverty reduction.
“What the APRM does for governance, NEPAD does for development. Together, they help Africa to advance along the path of democracy and development to benefit Africans,” Ban said at the official opening of a High-Level panel discussion on Africa’s Innovative Governance through 10 years of the APRM.
The discussion, taking place at the United Nations in New York, is being chaired by Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz, the UN Under-Secretary and Special Adviser on Africa.
It is the first in the series of activities at the UN Headquarters to mark “Africa Week”, during the 68th UN General assembly Debate on Africa.
Ban continued: ”Today, a few African countries are experiencing abject poverty. African countries are trading amongst themselves; there are more women in positions of power. I thank NEPAD and the APRM for taking the lead in supporting the processes that are enabling these developments.”
Speaking at the occasion, the South African Ambassador to the UN, Kingsley Mamabolo, said Africa should use the global body’s acknowledgement and endorsement to place NEPAD in a more strategic position to deal with the post-2015 developmental issues.
“Since the formation of NEPAD, African countries have increased their planning capacities and their performance in achieving jointly-defined benchmarks and policies. Strategic regional frameworks have been developed and are being implemented in areas like agriculture and food security, infrastructure and health,” according to the NEPAD Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki.
APRM was established in 2003 as an instrument to measure good governance on the continent. It is a voluntary mechanism in which countries make themselves available for periodic examination on critical areas of governance such as the economy, democracy, human rights, transparency, accountability and the rule of law, among others.
In 10 years of its existence, more than a quarter of African countries have keyed into the initiative.
The event to mark the APRM will also feature discussions reflecting on the organ in the last decade and the future outlook.
