Introductory statement: by Carlos Lopes United Nations Under-Secretary General, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the 2015 summer Session of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the Proposed Programme Budget for the biennium 2016-2017: (Section 18) Economic and social development in Africa

Abstract

Statement by Mr. Carlos Lopes, United Nations Under-Secretary General, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the 2015 summer Session of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the Proposed Programme Budget for the biennium 2016-2017: (Section 18) Economic and social development in Africa. Mr. Lopes says on his remarks that, the focus on industrialization reflected in the last three flagship Economic Reports on Africa has demonstrated ECA’s commitment to ensure its policy research and statistics are strategically relevant to African governments’ priorities. The theme of the 2014 edition of the report on “Dynamic Industrial Policy in Africa” and the 2015 edition on “Industrializing through Trade” placed ECA at the center of economic policy debates in Africa. The new industrial policies being developed by many member States and regional economic communities, have all benefited from the research, statistics and debates generated by ECA’s focus on this critical subject, including 17 strategic country engagements at Cabinet level and the production of SADC industrialization policy. In 2014, in order to promote accountability and organizational learning, ECA broke new ground and developed its own cutting edge Performance Management Dashboard to measure progress toward the corporate objectives of Policy Influence, Credibility and Trust, Accountability and Learning, and Operational Effectiveness.