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HarnessingAfrica’s fullpotentialthroughstrategicpartnerships2 nd Strategic Partners DialogueAddis Ababa, Ethiopia11 April 2011The first strategic partners dialogue which was convened in December2009 had several objectives. First of all, it was to demonstratethe strong and increasingly coherent partnership betweenthe AUC and ECA, which has now been further strengthened withthe establishment of the AU/AfDB/ECA Joint Secretariat Support Office.Secondly, it was to highlight and share key issues in the Africandevelopment agenda in the spirit of partnership. Thirdly, we wantedto promote coherence and reduce the transactions costs of our institutionsin relating to partners. Finally, we wanted to achieve thesethree objectives by enabling greater access, providing informationto, and increasing interaction with partners who were strategicallyengaged with both our institutions.By all accounts, these objectives were achieved and this led to callsto involve the other two key players in Africa’s regional architecture,namely the African Development Bank and the Regional EconomicCommunities in the process. The first meeting also provided an opportunityfor ECA to share its 2010-2012 Business Plan with our partnersand we received a lot of support in its implementation from ourkey strategic partners. We will be providing further details in thisregard at the next session.The context in which we are meeting has also changed significantly.Our first dialogue took place during the global economic and finan-162 Part Three