26 July 1991

32nd plenary meeting

Acceleration of the economic integration process in Africa and strengthening of the Multinational Programming and Operational Centres

The Economic and Social Council,

Concerned about the slow process of subregional economic integration in Africa as evidenced, inter alia, by the low level of intra-subregional trade, the persistence of customs barriers between States members of the Economic Commission for Africa, the non-existence of a common external tariff and the absence of harmonized sectoral policies in the fields of agriculture, industry, transport, energy, trade and monetary affairs,

Recalling resolution 611 (XXII) of 24 April 1987 of the Conference of Ministers of the Economic Commission for Africa on the acceleration of subregional economic integration in Africa and the new role of the Multinational Programming and Operational Centres,

Recalling also Council resolution 1990/76 of 27 July 1990 on transforming and strengthening the Multinational Programming and Operational Centres to enable them to play an effective role in providing technical assistance in the economic integration process in Africa,

Noting with satisfaction the endorsement by the General Assembly of the report of the Review Team on the Structures, Organization and Operations of the Multinational Programming and Operational Centres, in which the Review Team concluded that the structures, organization and operations of the Centres should be transformed and strengthened,

Aware that the financial assistance provided by the United Nations Development Programme to the Centres during the period 1977-1982 has made a significant impact on the economic integration process in Africa, which has been further accelerated by the funding of multisectoral projects by the United Nations Development Programme during its fourth programming cycle,

Noting with satisfaction the progress achieved in the preparation of the treaty establishing the African Economic Community, whose imminent signature will mark a historic milestone in the integration of Africa,

1. Appeals to States that are members of subregional economic communities to take appropriate measures to accelerate the subregional integration process, notably by endowing the subregional economic communities with self-financing mechanisms for the funding of their operational activities and by ensuring the participation of all socio-economic groups in the economic integration activities;

2. Further appeals to States that are members of subregional economic communities to adopt effective measures towards the setting up of mechanisms for economic integration in each subregion that would harmonize the activities of all economic groupings;

3. Invites those States to apply the decisions of the African Economic Community on joint policies in priority sectors, in particular those regarding the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, on the adoption of a common external tariff and on monetary integration;

4. Requests the United Nations Development Programme to provide, during its fifth programming cycle, in accordance with the relevant decisions of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme, sufficient resources to support the economic integration process in Africa, in particular to fund activities in priority areas that were not properly covered during the fourth programming cycle and to sustain the promotion of those activities that were launched during the fifth programming cycle;

5. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, in close collaboration with the Organization of African Unity and the African Development Bank, to redouble his efforts to explore ways and means of providing all the necessary technical assistance to the future African Economic Community, in particular, in the drafting of its protocols and the implementation of its first work programme;

6. Invites African non-governmental organizations to adopt concrete proposals aimed at accelerating the process of economic integration and developing awareness of the African economic and political integration process at all levels of African society;

7. Renews its appeal to the General Assembly for the funding of additional posts in the Multinational Programming and Operational Centres, in both the Professional and the General Service categories, and the provision of additional financial resources;

8. Renews its appeal to member States to continue their support of the Centres through specific contributions to the United Nations Trust Fund for African Development and by facilitating the secondment of their civil servants to the Centres on short-term assignments;

9. Endorses the new orientation of the work programme and priorities of the Centres as proposed by their respective Committees of Intergovernmental Experts;

10. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, in collaboration with member States, to take appropriate measures to make the subregional development information systems operational, priority to be accorded to a reliable information system on the market for agricultural products, especially foodstuffs;

11. Further requests the Executive Secretary:

(a) To establish the mandate and terms of reference of the Committees of Intergovernmental Experts for the effective implementation of the work charged to them under Economic and Social Council resolution 1990/76 of 27 July 1990;

(b) To draw up, in good time, the programme of work for the Centres for circulation to member States to allow them to prepare, in reasonable time, for the secondment of national civil servants;

I

Gisenyi Multinational Programming and Operational Centre

1. Requests the Gisenyi Multinational Programming and Operational Centre and the Economic Commission for Africa to assist, where appropriate, the Great Lakes countries in implementing the provisions of the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation;

2. Also requests the Gisenyi Centre, in collaboration with the secretariat of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries, to explore the possibility of organizing, as soon as possible, through funding from the extrabudgetary resources of the Economic Commission for Africa, an expert group meeting on road transport to consider, inter alia, the following topics: road service taxation and road maintenance within the Community; an integrated road network and road map for the Community; a global approach to the opening up of the Community area; and the formulation of a Community transport master plan;

II Tangiers Multinational Programming and Operational Centre

1. Requests the Economic Commission for Africa to continue to provide assistance to the North African countries within its support for the Arab Maghreb Union in its integration endeavours and to continue to provide assistance in the establishment of a Preferential Trade Area in North Africa;

2. Also requests the Commission to establish, within the Tangiers Centre, adequate structures to enable the Centre to provide support to the North African Transport Commission and to ensure the proper follow-up to emigration issues;

3. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Commission to seek appropriate funds to provide the programme on the integration of women in development in North Africa with an established post;

III Niamey Multinational Programming and Operational Centre

1. Invites States members of the Economic Community of West African States to seriously consider the establishment of a subsidy system for agricultural inputs, particularly fertilizers, pesticides, equipment and machinery, and to rationalize their distribution so as to accelerate the modernization of the agricultural sector and ensure an increase in its productivity;

2. Requests the Niamey Multinational Programming and Operational Centre to examine the possibility of organizing, as soon as possible, with funding from the extrabudgetary resources of the Economic Commission for Africa, an expert group meeting to consider measures to be applied by the countries of the subregion in view of likely adverse effects on their economies of the European single market;

IV Yaounde Multinational Programming and Operational Centre

1. Invites the States of the subregion:

(a) To continue to accord top priority to integrated rural development;

(b) To coordinate their efforts with a view to establishing a subregional food security plan;

(c) To cooperate in the production of agricultural inputs;

(d) To promote trade in agricultural products, especially foodstuffs;

(e) To collaborate towards the gradual adoption and implementation of a common agricultural policy;

2. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa to provide the States of the subregion with the necessary assistance in elaborating a subregional industrial development master plan and a subregional industrialization programme;

3. Invites the States of the subregion and the international organizations and bodies concerned, including the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Programme, to provide support to the national coordinating committees for the Second United Nations Transport and Communications Decade for Africa and to the Economic Community of Central African States and the Central African Economic and Customs Union to enable them to elaborate and implement a coherent subregional programme;

V Lusaka Multinational Programming and Operational Centre

1. Calls upon the States of the subregion to designate focal points to facilitate data collection and to prepare country briefs;

2. Requests the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa:

(a) To continue to assist, to the extent possible, the Southern Africa Labour Commission by providing secretariat services for the implementation of its expanded programme for 1991-1995, by servicing a study tour to West Africa for women from the Labour Commission countries and by serving as the ad interim secretariat of the Labour Commission;

(b) To bring the problem of unemployment in southern Africa to the attention of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity, which is responsible for monitoring events in the subregion;

(c) To assist the States of the subregion, in cooperation with the Organization of African Unity, the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund, in the development and strengthening of human resources and social development, including institutional development and human resources policy coordination.