22nd ordinary session of the African Union executive council: Statement By Carlos Lopes UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA

Abstract

Statement by Carlos Lopes UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA at the 22nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council. Mr. Lopes on his remarks highlighted that, Africa has not remained static in the face of global change. Our continent is also changing and the trend is largely positive. The new age of globalization began at the same time as much of Africa was being ushered into a period of prolonged socioeconomic crisis that marked the end of the continent’s experimentation with the classic import substitution industrial development approaches and the suspension of the state-led/state interventionist model of economic management. The world is changing, Africa is changing, so ECA must change. To be relevant to the transformative development agenda of its member states, ECA must retool itself and re-calibrate its program. Indeed, at ECA we are committed to putting “Africa First” in all that we do.