PREPARATIONS FOR MID-TERM REVIEW OF UNITED NATIONS NEW AGENDA FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT TO BEGIN AT HEADQUARTERS
Press Release
ENV/DEV/367
PREPARATIONS FOR MID-TERM REVIEW OF UNITED NATIONS NEW AGENDA FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT TO BEGIN AT HEADQUARTERS
19960617 NEW YORK, 17 June (DPCSD) -- The Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the General Assembly, established by its fiftieth session to prepare the mid-term review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s, will hold an organizational session at Headquarters from 20 to 21 June. The mid-term review is scheduled to be held in September.The New Agenda was adopted by the Assembly in 1991 as a compact between Africa and its partners to reverse the deterioration in the continent's socio- economic situation and to renew the international community's support to Africa's efforts to achieve growth and development.
The Ad Hoc Committee was created by Assembly resolution 50/160, which concerns the implementation of the New Agenda and also the preparations for the mid-term review. By that text, the Assembly also requested the Secretary- General to submit a report on the implementation of the New Agenda to the mid- term review, with inputs from governments and organizations of the United Nations system, as well as from intergovernmental bodies, in particular the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and non-governmental organizations.
The organizational session will consider the necessary arrangements for the Committee's work, including the establishing of working groups. Two groups are expected to be set up, one to assess African governmental efforts to implement the New Agenda and the other to evaluate the commitment and response of the international community, including that of the United Nations system, to its provisions. The Chairman of the organizational session will be Alex Reyn (Belgium), an Assembly Vice-President.
In addition to assessing implementation, the mid-term review is expected to adopt measures and recommendations for the New Agenda's partners to further the sustainable development of Africa beyond the 1990s. Non-governmental organizations are also expected to submit their inputs to the mid-term review in meetings to be held prior to and during the September review.
The heads of the OAU, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank met at OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa on 10 June to begin preparations for the review. At the conclusion of the meeting, they issued a joint statement urging the international community to reaffirm its commitment to the New Agenda "by providing the requisite resources". They
- 2 - Press Release ENV/DEV/367 17 June 1996
also urged the international community to support the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa, launched on 15 March, to complement and give concrete expression to the policy framework provided by the New Agenda.
* *** *
NOTE: For further information on the organizational session of the Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on the New Agenda's mid-term review, contact the Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries in the Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, tel: 963-4780 or 963-5006.