Today is Thursday 4 June, 2009

NEPAD Today : Focused on APF

Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki leads NEPAD delegation to APF

The Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD Secretariat, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Makayi, will lead a high level delegation to Rome, Italy, for the 12th Africa Partnership Forum (APF) taking place on 10 June 2009.

The thematic focus of the 12th APF include Policy response to the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa ; Consolidating Peace and Security in Africa ; Climate Change and Reform and Effectiveness of the APF.

During his official visit to Rome, Dr. Mayaki will hold a briefing session with African Ambassadors accredited to Italy through African Ambassadors Group, and take part in the pre-APF joint meeting of G8 and AU/NEPAD Personal Representatives on June 9, The CEO will also engage with G8 Ministers of Development Cooperation at their meeting scheduled for 11 June in Rome..

Dr Mayaki is also billed to hold high-level meetings with Rome-based Agriculture International Organizations in Italy, namely the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The APF was established in November 2003 in the wake of the Evian Summit as a way of broadening the existing high-level G8/NEPAD dialogue to encompass Africa’s major bilateral and multilateral development partners. The APF’s mission is to strengthen partnership efforts in favour of Africa’s development.

The APF has become a key forum at a senior political level for discussing and monitoring policy issues, strategies and priorities in support of Africa’s development. Its members ; Africa, G8, OECD and other development partners all work together as equals in the forum – and ensure synergies and coherence with other international fora. The APF meets twice each year and is Co-Chaired on an alternating basis by representatives of the African Union and NEPAD, and by G8 and non-G8 OECD Member countries.

The Forum focuses on strategic, political and socio-economic issues related to African development and the implementation of NEPAD programmes given the overarching objective of the Millennium Development Goals.

The role of the Forum is to catalyse action and to coordinate support behind African priorities and NEPAD. In this regard, it identifies commitments that African countries and Africa’s development partners have made to address the continent’s development needs, including the NEPAD and AU programmes, the G8 Africa Action Plan and commitments made at Gleneagles and diverse UN Summits including the 2005 Millennium Review. The APF’s core task is to monitor how commitments are being taken forward and to establish associated outcomes against which progress can be tracked.

In carrying out its assessment work, the APF highlights lessons learned and identifies priorities for action as well as who will be responsible for implementation to facilitate delivery of commitments that have been made.

The APF meets twice a year is co-chaired by representatives from the African Union and NEPAD and by G8 and non-G8 OECD member countries. Its work is guided by the four APF co-chairs and, by extension, the wider APF membership. One of the two annual meeting has typically been held in Africa and the other in the country holding the G8 presidency.

Dr.Ibrahim Assane Mayaki took office on 1 April 2009 as NEPAD CEO. He has already paid courtesy visits to Niger’s President Mamadou Tandja, Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade and received the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Chairperson of African Union at the recent 37th Meeting of the NEPAD Steering Committee in Midrand, South Africa.

Dr. Mayaki is also expected to meet the chairperson of the International Organisation of Francophonie, President Abdou Diouf and the UNESCO Director for Africa, Tidiani Serpos, and UNESCO director-general Koichiro Matsuura on strategies of promoting NEPAD implementation. Source : NEPAD