Development cooperation tops agenda of upcoming UN meeting for Africa

Effective implementation of the new development cooperation agenda will be the subject of an upcoming meeting in Ethiopia between African finance ministers and their counterparts from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said today.

Finance and planning ministers from 11 African countries – Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda – are scheduled to attend the so-called Big Table, which will get underway in Addis Ababa on Saturday.

The Big Table is an initiative designed by ECA to promote frank, constructive dialogue between African finance ministers and their OECD counterparts. The format and agenda are designed to allow for maximum interactive dialogue, with no formal statements.

This year's discussions will focus on approaches to monitoring the performance of Africa and its partners towards meeting shared goals in the context of mutual accountability.

The notion of mutual accountability is a hallmark of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and a manifestation of its appeal for a new "compact" between Africa and its external partners. This compact calls for African countries to undertake the political and economic reforms needed to place their economies on a path towards sustainable growth. In turn, external partners would invest – through aid, debt relief, and market access – the resources needed to help African countries in this effort.