AFRICAN CIVIL SERVICE MINISTERS EMPHASIZE PROFESSIONALISM, ETHICS AT MEETING IN RABAT, MOROCCO, 13-15 DECEMBER
Press Release
DEV/2197
AFRICAN CIVIL SERVICE MINISTERS EMPHASIZE PROFESSIONALISM, ETHICS AT MEETING IN RABAT, MOROCCO, 13-15 DECEMBER
19981215 RABAT, 15 December (DESA) -- African Civil Service ministers discussed professionalism and ethics in the face of a global economic downturn, structural adjustment policies, globalization and rapid technological advances, at the Second Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service, held in Rabat, Morocco from 13-15 December.The event, jointly organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the African Training Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), was opened by: Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Prime Minister of Morocco, the host country; Patrizio Civili, Assistant-Secretary-General, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA); and El Houssine Aziz, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reform of Morocco.
"In recent years, in the face of an economic environment changing at an unprecedented, fast pace, we all -- governments and international organizations alike -- have learned many lessons", Mr. Civili told the meeting. "One such important lesson is that, while coping with the new world requires a higher degree of efficiency and greater selectivity in determining those areas of human endeavour that are best suited to the public sector, those who sought to marginalize public administration were simply wrong. Public service is essential, perhaps as never before."
The Rabat Conference was a follow-up to the first Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service, which was held in Tangiers four years ago. Referring to that Conference, Mr. Aziz, the Moroccan Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reform and the President of CAFRAD, told the Rabat meeting, "Our first conference gave us a valuable opportunity to explore the areas of cooperation among African countries in the field of civil service and administrative reform and emphasize the importance of elaborating a common, renewed and developed perspective of how to approach administrative development in our continent and how to link it to the multi-dimensional socio-economic development issue. In this regard, the Tangiers Declaration was a profound message to the international community, resulting in the United Nations General Assembly adopting Resolution 50/225, which stresses the essential role of public administration in the development process and
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recommends the necessity of reinforcing all aspects of support and technical assistance to developing countries including those in Africa."
Mohammed Ahmad Wali, Director-General of CAFRAD, added, "As the first conference had made an important declaration, and the ideas are being vigorously implemented, we are confident that this conference will take even more imaginative decisions to ensure the revitalization of the African civil service. The African civil service as a whole looks upon the African ministers of civil service to come up with a declaration that is capable of restoring its shattered image and bringing it into focus to cope with new challenges and new realities of the twenty-first century."
The theme of the Rabat Conference was also the focus of two other conferences, co-organized by the Department in 1997. Twenty-one countries of Central and Eastern Europe gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece, where they concluded that reinforcing professionalism and ethics in the civil service was essential to a successful transition process from a centrally-planned to a market economy and a one-party to a multi-party state. In Brasilia, Brazilian federal and State-level public servants and other participants met and concluded that promoting ethics in the public service required more guidance and training, as well as making more information about government procedures accessible to the public.
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