Sections:
Monitoring the Gleneagles commitments – Africa Partnership Forum
The fifth meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) took take place in London on 4-5 October 2005. The agenda for the meeting focused on:
- the Role of the APF;
- a Joint Action Plan, covering commitments both by the international community and Africa;
- prospects for financing Africa's development;
- and the African Peer Review Mechanism.
The next meeting will be in Mozambique on 4-5 May 2006.
The Communiqué
(22
kb) and list of participants (55
kb) from the London meeting are attached.
The Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, hosted the meeting. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown also addressed the Forum.
The meeting agreed on a revised remit for the APF, focusing on monitoring commitments to Africa. This focus is reflected in the
Final Africa Partnership
Forum Terms of Reference(11
kb) that builds on the original APF Terms of Reference agreed at its inaugural in Paris, 2003.
It was agreed that the APF would develop a Joint Action
Plan (Excel) bringing together the commitments that Africa and its development partners have made. This will assist the Forum in its role in recording, monitoring and reporting on delivery of financing and policy commitments, identifying issues and difficulties and agreeing the way forward. The Plan will be focused on policies and outcomes and should have clear, time-bound benchmarks against which progress can be measured and monitored.
It was agreed to produce an annual report, measuring progress against some or all elements of the Joint Action Plan, beginning in October 2006. And that the Forum will focus each year on identified key priority areas.
It was agreed that a task team comprising APF co-chairs for 2005 and 2006 (UK, Netherlands, Nigeria, NEPAD, Russia, Norway) and other APF members interested in contributing, will produce a first draft of the Joint Action Plan by the end of 2005.
The Forum also agreed to establish a small Support Unit, to work closely with the AU-NEPAD Secretariat, reporting to the APF through the Co-Chairs. The Support Unit will help to ensure effective follow-up in between APF meetings, and pull together analysis and reporting on the Joint Action Plan. The OECD offered to host the Unit, and it was agreed that the Task Team of APF co-chairs and other volunteers (referred to above) would work to establish the Unit before the end of 2005.
The next meeting of the APF will take place in Africa in April 2006.
Background
G8 Heads and African leaders, agreed on a comprehensive package of measures to support Africa's development at Gleneagles in July. They agreed on the need for a mechanism to monitor the implementation of these commitments; and that a strengthened Africa Partnership Forum should monitor progress on the basis of a Joint Action Plan
The Africa Partnership Forum (APF) was established at the G8 Evian Summit in May 2003 where it was agreed that the network of G8 Africa Personal Representatives should be expanded to include African governments (members of the NEPAD Steering Committee), the African Union (AU) and New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a wider range of donor governments (those giving more than $100m each year in aid to Africa), as well as key multilateral agencies.
The APF is co-chaired by the Chair of the AU, the G8 Presidency, a non-G8 OECD representative, and AU-NEPAD. Co-chairs in 2004 were Belgium, AU-NEPAD Mozambique and the US. Co-chairs in 2005 are Nigeria, UK, the Netherlands and AU-NEPAD.
The APF has met on four separate occasions - in Paris, 2003; in Mozambique and Washington, 2004; in Abuja, April 2005. Discussion at the Abuja meeting focused on
four agenda items, and a separate paper was produced for each, including on the Commission for Africa and G8 Africa Action Plan,
NEPAD progress report,
Mutual Accountability,
and Peace and Security. The communiqué and final report from the Abuja meeting are included below.
- Communiqué
- Final report
Further information
10 January 2006