PANEL ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT TO MEET AT HEADQUARTERS, 13 - 14 MARCH
Press Release
DEV/2137/Rev.1*
PANEL ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT TO MEET AT HEADQUARTERS, 13 - 14 MARCH
19970310 NEW YORK, 10 March (DPCSD) -- The major political and economic developments on the African continent in 1996 will be the main focus of the 13 to 14 March meeting of the Panel of High-Level Personalities on African Development at United Nations Headquarters.The Panel will review the efforts of African countries to implement political and economic reforms, the encouraging economic performance of recent years and its social impact. The meeting will also discuss governance in Africa -- recognized as a critical factor in development -- as well as the issue of agriculture and food security in the aftermath of the recent World Food Summit.
The High-Level Panel was established in 1992 by former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to advise and assist him in the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s and to foster Africa's development in general. The Panel is entrusted with the responsibility of playing an advocacy role and heightening visibility of Africa's problems in the international community. It also plays an important role in making recommendations on global issues of particular importance to African development, such as resource flows, the external debt burden and trade, while urging African countries to pursue their own efforts. The Panel also makes recommendations on how to improve coordination within the United Nations system in the formulation and implementation of its programmes and activities in Africa.
The Panel's current membership includes: President of Botswana Sir Ketumile Masire; Special Adviser of the Africa Society of Japan, Yasushi Kurokochi; Denmark's Minister for Development Cooperation, Poul Nielson; the United Kingdom's Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Minister for Overseas Development, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey; Adviser to the President of Indonesia for South-South and North-South Cooperation, Mohammad Sadli; Director for Sub-Saharan Africa of the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, R. Barthelt; Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim; and former United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Co-Chairman of Good Works International, Andrew Young.
__________ * Reissued. The original release incorrectly indicated that Secretary- General Kofi Annan would chair the meeting.
- 2 - Press Release DEV/2137/Rev.1 10 March 1997
The membership also includes: President and Director-General of the French Agence Nationale de Valorisation de la Recherche, Philippe Jurgensen; Chairperson of the Study of the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, Graça Machel; President of New Africa Investment Ltd. of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; President of the African Development Bank, Omar Kabbaj; Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, K.Y. Amoako; Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Hazem El-Beblawi; and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Rubens Ricupero.
The following from United Nations Headquarters will also participate in the deliberations: Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), James Gustave Speth; Under-Secretary-General, Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, Nitin Desai; and Assistant Administrator and Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
For further information, please contact the Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries, 212-963-5006/2692.
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