PDF (2.0 MB)

Workingcollectively toachieve Africa’sdevelopmentagendaThirteenth Ordinary Session ofthe Executive Council ofthe African UnionSharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt27 June 2008In the spirit of deepening collaboration between the African Unionand ECA, the Eleventh Ordinary Session in Accra mandated thetwo institutions to hold Joint Annual Meetings for the Ministers ofFinance, Planning and Economic Development. Based on this mandate,the first Joint Annual Meeting was held in Addis Ababa from 31March to 2 April 2008.At this meeting, Ministers commended the efforts of many Africancountries for pursuing policies that are geared towards sustainableeconomic growth and poverty alleviation, in line with the prioritiesof NEPAD. Although these efforts have culminated in recent years torobust growth for Africa, poverty reduction and employment creationhas been very limited.The 2007 Economic Report for Africa, a joint publication of ECA andAU, forecasts that Africa’s growth outlook would be very strong, duein part to high demand for Africa’s commodity exports, generated byrobust growth in Asia, continued effective macroeconomic managementand the improving governance and security situation in Africa.However, Africa’s growth outlook could be tempered by a numberof risks, chief among them being a sharper slowdown in the UnitedStates, with an adverse impact on European economies, resulting ina fall in world commodity demand and prices. In addition, high oilprices would cause increasing fiscal and external imbalances in oil-Integrating Africa31