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| Statement delivered by President Olusegun Obasanjo | |
04 July 2005
I wish to acknowledge the excellent contributions of all the those participating in Bending the Arc. I thank you all for dedicating your time and energy to identify areas of activity for each of us - business, civil society, government and our international partners - to work together to attain the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. Such initiative is timely and welcomed as we at the African Union articulate our priorities for dialogue at the G8 meeting at Gleneagles on how best to advance our plans and priorities through NEPAD. One of the major goals of NEPAD, our flagship programme, is to alleviate poverty in partnership with the African private sector, as led by the African Business Roundtable and NEPAD Business Group, with the United Nations, international business, donors and civil society. We are fully aware of the extensive media coverage Africa is receiving in G8 countries and welcome the intimations of further commitments to cancel debt for more African countries and the doubling of aid to Africa. We must now see words or commitments translated into action in support of poverty alleviation. We too are committed to strengthening our own capabilities to review the effectiveness and progress of these initiatives. A further priority as we stabilize our governance through the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) must be to encourage international support and commitments to strengthen the African Union’s peace and security capabilities. Following the expectations generated from the G8 Africa Action Plan to be reviewed at Gleneagles, we must see that promises are fulfilled. I look forward to receiving the recommendations from Bending the Arc and presenting these to colleagues in the African Union, which based on the extensive consultations and distinguished panellists, will no doubt embody innovative suggestions for brokering and sustaining new and equitable partnerships within the NEPAD framework. We, African leaders present in Sirte, Libya for the African Union Summit, are hopeful that our deliberations here, together with those of the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, will lead to a positive outcome at the World Summit in September this year, which will review progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.Statement delivered by Ambassador Esan at the Bending the Arc summit on July 5th 2005. |
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