PDF (2.0 MB)

ment partners to perceived “difficulties” on the African side shouldnot be to suspend aid since such a response very often imperils successesalready achieved.African countries must intensify domestic resource mobilisation. Itis impossible for African countries to get the policy and fiscal spacesthat they are asking for if they continue to depend so perilously onexternal assistance. An intensified domestic resources mobilisationeffort can be a signaling device – a signal to development partnersof African governments’ seriousness to scale up their own efforts toreach the targets of the MDGs.I would like to conclude these brief remarks by addressing some ofthe recommendations of the “African Ministerial Plenary on PovertyReduction Strategies and the Millennium Development Goal” heldin Cairo, in March, which focused principally on second-generationpoverty reduction strategies because they are pertinent to this Conference.In Cairo, African Ministers concluded that future nationaldevelopment plans in African countries must be bold enough toachieve the MDGs sooner than 2015. The Plenary also underscoredthe importance of strong statistics and statistical systems for effectivemonitoring and decision-making. Given Africa’s enormous developmentneeds, the Plenary further agreed that increased aid flows toAfrica are needed and urgently so, and that we need to improve theeffectiveness of aid. The volume of aid needs to increase, aid must bepredictable, and the gap between commitment and disbursementmust be closed.It is thus important for Africa’s development partners to improvethe harmonisation and coherence of their policies and programmesto ensure better alignment with the identified priorities of Africancountries. Mutual responsibility and mutual accountability must undergirdthe aid relationship. Partners must facilitate through greatermarket openness since ECA and the Organisation for Economic Cooperationand Development/Development Assistance Committee(OECD/DAC) have been working on the issue of mutual accountabilityin the past several years and it is our intention to share the resultsof this joint work with Member States and the wider internationalcommunity in order to raise awareness of the need for the widespreadadoption of this principle.70 Part Two