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area is the role of the private sector in the implementation of NEPAD,where more needs to be done to strengthen public-private partnerships– including in delivering public goods to achieve the MDGs, andthe building of infrastructure.Such issues point to the need for new thinking on the role of theState and other institutions in Africa which was why the 2011 AU/ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economy andthe accompanying Economic Report on Africa was devoted to ‘GoverningDevelopment in Africa’. We have also undertaken knowledgeactivities to support African priorities in regional integration, trade,food security, climate change, infrastructure, gender, science andtechnology and governance to mention but a few areas of work pertinentto the NEPAD agenda.At a more operational level, UN support to the NEPAD agenda is coordinatedunder the auspices of the Regional Coordination Mechanismfor Africa. RCM-Africa provides a forum for bringing UN agenciestogether on one side to interact and engage as one with the AfricanUnion, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency and the RegionalEconomic Communities. It is now the main mechanism for coordinatingUN system support to NEPAD and has achieved enhancedinteragency coherence and coordination while promoting broadercooperation through joint activities and programmes. RCM-Africa isorganized around nine thematic clusters that reflect the objectivesand priority work areas of AU/NEPAD and ECA serves as convenerand provides the secretariat of the RCM on the UN side.There is general agreement about the importance of improving Africancapacities to implement programmes such as the MDGs andNEPAD and this is why in November 2006, the Secretary General ofthe UN and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission signeda Framework Agreement for the UN Ten-Year Capacity-Building Programmefor the African Union which with the full integration of NE-PAD into the African Union is now extended to the NPCA along withother AU organs and the Regional Economic Communities. The implementationof the Ten Year Capacity Building Plan is also coordinatedthrough the RCM.From an ECA specific dimension, our partnership with the NEPADAgency is guided by a Memorandum of Understanding betweenIntegrating Africa57