The year 2015 said to be decisive for Africa’s sustainable development plans

The year 2015 has been noted as a decisive period for Africa’s sustainable development plans.

A press release from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), copied to ghanabusinessnews.com quotes the organization’s deputy executive secretary Mr. Abadalla Hamdok as saying.

“This is a momentous opportunity that the Africa region must seize to pave the way for its meaningful participation in the global institutional architecture for sustainable development,” he said the opening of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mr. Hamdok reminded delegates of the timeliness of the meeting of the Forum in that its recommendations “will guide the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda and the SDGs” and precedes three major events of the year. The Third International Conference on Financing for Development will be held in Addis Ababa in July; the adoption of SDGs in New York in September; and the Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, the release said.

Mr. Hamdok the release stated, praised African states for their active participation in the consultations and drafting of common positions on development. However, he pointed out that the work is yet to be complete. “Africa should continue to be meaningfully engaged in the elaboration of an indicator framework for the SDGs”, he said.

According to the release, he further suggested, “given that development aspirations and processes are context specific, African negotiators should ensure that this work takes into account regional and national contexts, as well as initial conditions of each country, to effectively convey the region’s views and positions on the ongoing international consultations and negotiations at all levels”.

The Forum is being held for the first time following its establishment by the eighth Joint Annual Meetings of the African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development held in March 2015.

The Forum is jointly organised by ECA, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the release said.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi