The African Union (AU) has launched Agenda 2063, which ushers in a new roadmap that emphasises the importance of rekindling the passion for pan-Africanism and boosting the continent’s all-round development
Agenda 2063 is an idea of African Union (AU) – in collaboration with NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency, supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and African Development Bank (AfDB) – to have a more united, people-centric and prosperous Africa. It focuses on encouraging discussion among all stakeholders to suggest an approach that would enable the continent to effectively learn from the lessons of the past, while building on the current progress.
The initiative is meant to integrate and unify the continent and make it politically united, based on ideas of pan-Africanism. The agenda also seeks to strategically exploit all possible opportunities available in the immediate and medium-term to achieve socio-economic transformation within the next 50 years.
Africa is discussing ways to gather citizens’ impetus and participation in accelerating integration, prosperity and peace, taking advantage of the current momentum towards 2063. Following the various debates and consultations held with the youth, women and diaspora representatives during the AU’s 50th anniversary celebrations held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in May 2013, the African Union Commission (AUC) has set its priorities through various actions including the website dedicated to the Agenda 2063. The AUC is keen to have a larger contribution from all Africans and their friends to enhance Agenda 2063.
It was against this background that a four-day AUC conference on the development of the Agenda 2063 took place in Lusaka, Zambia from 2-4 March 2015. The conference was attended by AU member states with Zambia’s finance minister Alexander Chikwanda, who urged delegates to define mechanisms that would help realise the outcomes of meeting and eventually, Agenda 2063.
The Lusaka meeting put together specific elements of ‘Agenda 2063 at the operational level and, at its heart, the new roadmap emphasises the importance of rekindling the passion for pan-Africanism. The meeting also discussed major risks, threats and critical success factors including regional political, institutional renewal and financing as well as the changing nature Africa’s relationship with the rest of the world.
The idea of the Agenda 2063, Chikwanda added, is for national planning frameworks such as long-term visions, national development plans and poverty reduction strategies that must be revised to incorporate and reflect the aspirations and goal of the Agenda. Weak institutional arrangements have largely been accountable for failure to bring good development goals to finality.
“In this regard, the mobilisation of domestic resources for financing of various activities under the Agenda 2063 is of paramount importance as it will put our continent on an assured growth trajectory,’’ said Chikwanda.
The conference looked at the first 10-Year Implementation Plan to make it sharper and more focused to ease implementation. AUC Commissioner for Economic Affairs Anthony Maruping explained that the plan is aimed at kick-starting the implementation of Agenda 2063 in areas such as ‘silencing guns by 2020’, development of a single aviation market, free movement of persons and the African passport apart from the continental free trade area (CFTA) as well as the creation of the pan-African E-network.
Others are the establishment of the virtual university, creation of annual African consultative platform and continental financial institutions, including the African Central Bank by 2030.
– Nawa Mutumweno
