iAngola - Gente, Informação e Conexões

High-level ILO Conference opens on jobs, growth and social progress

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:01:01 +0200

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa has said that Africa's population is estimated to double in the next 50 years and as such, there is a need to plan for the jobs that these young Africans will need. Mr. Carlos Lopes was speaking at the opening of the 102nd Session of the International Labor Organization (ILO) during a High-level World of Works Panel Event on the theme: Restoring Confidence: Jobs, Growth and Social Progress.

Referencing Justin Lin, former Chinese Chief Economist of the World Bank who has argued that Africa is poised to create up to 80 million jobs from the movement of sunset industries in China to the continent, Lopes argued that the need to plan for jobs is “not just about social inclusion and equity to prevent restlessness or revolution; It is about ensuring that when it is called upon to become the factory of the world, Africa would be able to play this role.”

He also underscored that Africa's population is getting more youthful, as the rest of the world is ageing and the Continent's growing youth population will have the largest labor force in the world by 2040.

Thus, according to Lopes, an intergenerational social contract between Africa and other regions is required “because its youth will be needed to sustain a global economy in which the rest of the population is ageing and cannot do certain types of work.”

He stressed that the changing demographic landscape requires structural transformation of African economies “to ensure that jobs, growth and social progress advance together in tandem.”

Furthermore to successfully create the conditions for jobs, growth and social progress, the continent like other regions must have control of its own vision and narrative. It must also address the challenge of inequality in the process of structural transformation.

The Executive Secretary informed the meeting about Africa Vision 2063, which is being developed by the African Union, with the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank and whose main objective - the structural transformation of the continent - underpin the key discussions at this year's 102nd session.

“This requires promoting industrialization, restoring national planning systems and generating robust statistics; it also means generating decent jobs and increasing social protection,” he said.

The meeting has a round 5000 delegates representing governments, employers and works from the ILO's 185 member States. Among other issues, the 102nd Session will focus on social protection in an ageing world, sustainable development and social dialogue.

IMF's Africa Training Institute Starts Operations in Mauritius

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:01:01 +0200

PORT-LOUIS, Mauritius, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The IMF's Africa Training Institute started operations today, welcoming 28 participants from sub-Saharan Africa to its first training course in Pointe aux Piments, Mauritius. The two-week course is focused on Economic Issues in Regional Integration. The Africa Training Institute plans to train over 200 officials per year through eight two-week courses.

“Today, we are opening a new chapter in capacity-building in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to the generous financial contribution and logistical support of the Mauritius government—the host country--as well as financial support pledges from the Australian Agency for International Development and the Chinese authorities,” IMF representative Vitaliy Kramarenko said at the opening session. The Africa Training Institute's key objective is to contribute to improved macroeconomic and financial policies through high-quality training, which would ultimately support sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We hope that in the period ahead, the Africa Training Institute will become a leading regional institution in training on macro-economic policymaking, public finance, exchange rate and monetary policies, economic integration, and financial sector issues. We will also work to ensure that our training is closely integrated with the activities of the IMF's Regional Technical Assistance Centers in Africa,” Mr. Kramarenko said.

The IMF offers technical assistance and training to member countries in addition to economic and financial surveillance, and lending operations. The IMF's technical assistance helps member countries develop more effective institutions, legal frameworks and policies to promote economic stability and growth, while training strengthens the capacity of member countries' officials to analyze economic developments and formulate and implement effective policies. In the year ending April 30, 2012, some 7,800 officials from member countries attended IMF training courses at headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at various locations around the world, including donor-supported regional training centers in Austria, Kuwait, and Singapore.

EAC, Sweden in high level dialogue / Sweden reaffirms support to EAC integration process

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:01:00 +0200

ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Secretary General of the East African Community Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera today held a fruitful high level dialogue with the delegation from Sweden at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania

The dialogue between the two parties focused on the on-going institutional review, financing of the Community, trade and investment, the EAC Partnership Fund, negotiations for the Monetary Union Protocol, political federation, Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite talks and human rights issues in the Partner States.

Amb. Sezibera expressed his appreciation for the Swedish government's support particularly through the EAC Partnership Fund and also briefed the Swedish delegation on the developments in the integration process.

He informed the Swedish delegation that the move towards a single customs territory was high on the region's agenda; as well as implementation of the Common Market Protocol. He added the region was also focusing on infrastructure development and conclusion of the negotiations for the Monetary Union Protocol.

The Secretary General asked Sweden for support in terms of building capacity for small and medium enterprises while on EPA negotiations Amb Sezibera called for greater flexibility by the European Union on the contentious clauses touching on export taxes and Most Favourable Nation (MFN) treatment.

“We need policy space that allows developing countries to negotiate with developed countries. It is very important for EAC in the EPA negotiations,” Amb. Sezibera said.

On Tripartite negotiations the EAC chief disclosed that the three blocs involved (EAC COMESA and SADC) have started discussions on free movement of persons among other things. He informed the Swedish delegation that the next round of negotiations is scheduled for next month.

On his part the leader of Swedish delegation and Sweden's Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania and to EAC H.E. Lennarth Hjelmaker reaffirmed his country's commitment to support EAC projects and programs.

The Deputy Director, Africa Department in Sweden's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Jakob Strom told the Secretary General Sweden was interested in seeing their financial contributions bear fruit through closer integration, and the creation of a conducive environment for economic development in the bloc.

In attendance were EAC Deputy Secretaries General Mr. Jean Claude Nsengiyumva (Finance and Administration), Dr. Julius Rotich (Political Federation), Hon. Jesca Eriyo (Productive and Social Sectors), Counsel to the Community Hon. Wilbert Kaahwa and other senior EAC officials.

Dates set for African and European qualifying draws

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:00:32 +0200

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The FIFA World Cup™ Local Organising Committee has set the dates for the draws of the African qualifying third round and the European play-off stage.

The African draw will be made on 16 September 2013 in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) headquarters in Cairo. The group winners of the second qualifying round will discover their rivals for one of the continent's five berths at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. The five best-placed sides in the 12 September 2013 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be seeded for the draw.

The eight best group runners-up in European qualifying will find out who blocks their path to one of the last four European tickets to Brazil 2014 on 21 October 2013. The draw will take place at the Home of FIFA in Zurich. The four highest-placed teams in the 17 October 2013 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking be seeded in the draw.

UNAMID kicks off week-long awareness campaign on road safety

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:01:17 +0200

EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- As part of UNAMID's ongoing effort to create awareness about road risks and to promote attitude change for a safer approach to driving, the Mission began its annual road safety campaign in partnership with the Government of Sudan and under the theme "Road Safety Starts with You."

The Darfur-wide campaign, which began on 9 June 2013 and runs through 20 June, is designed to increase awareness about safety issues, reduce the number of accidents and sensitize the public to traffic regulations. In addition, in the upcoming week, campaign organizers will be focused on raising awareness about environmental issues by highlighting ways to minimize vehicle operating costs through, for example, efficient maintenance programmes and ride-sharing practices.

A series of events are scheduled for the week, including a march, a radio drama play, public information announcements, video presentations, awareness seminars and safety checkpoints across Darfur.

Due to the increase in traffic accidents globally, the UN General Assembly has instructed all peacekeeping missions, UN Agencies and key partners around the world to strengthen their cooperation on road safety and to continue raising road safety awareness at the international and national levels by organizing advocacy events and scaling up existing efforts.

AfDB President applauds G8 for emphasis on greater transparency in taxation

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:01:16 +0200

TUNIS, Tunisia, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- African Development Bank (AfDB) (http://www.afdb.org) President Donald Kaberuka on Monday applauded the G8 for its emphasis on the issues around resource mobilization through greater transparency in taxation of Africa's natural resources.

Photo Donald Kaberuka: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/donald-kaberuka-afdb-president.jpg

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/african-development-bank-2.png

Speaking as G8 leaders began meeting in the United Kingdom, Kaberuka urged the international community to promote transparency, curb tax evasion and ensure more balanced contracts in the natural resources sector. He said transactions in the sector were very opaque.

“It is only in this way that our countries will be able to find the financial resources they need to fund infrastructure and trade corridors, which until now have been very dependent on donor funding,” Kaberuka said.

“The African Development Bank is very much fully behind this agenda. That is why we put in place the African Legal Support Facility, a legal technical assistance facility to help low income countries address a growing problem of litigation by vulture funds as well as a technical advisory facility to help regional member countries negotiate extractive resource contracts and create an appropriate, enabling environment with modern legal and regulatory frameworks for the extractive resource sector.

“The African Legal Support Facility has been instrumental in assisting a number of countries negotiate complex contracts, unbundle others, with the aim of ensuring that the countries get what they deserve, that investors get the return they look for, and that everyone is a winner.”

But Kaberuka also acknowledged that internal governance of the natural resources sector in Africa also needed to be improved.

He also spoke on the importance of trade as a driver against poverty.

He said Africa wanted to trade its way out of poverty, and a paradigm shift in its relationship with the G8 was necessary at a time when donor funding for the continent had dropped 20 per cent – the first decline in a decade.

“Nations throughout the world, throughout history have prospered through trade and investment. This applies, even to those rich in natural endowments,” Kaberuka said. “Africa, too, seeks to trade her way out of poverty through trade.

“But Africa must deal with the issue of the cost of doing business, the risks of doing business, and the challenges of small fragmented markets – all of which are extremely high. Some nations are better endowed in natural resources. That does help if carefully managed and invested in creating real wealth.”

Kaberuka said the AfDB currently committed almost US $2 billion annually on economic integration, focused on support to the Regional Economic Communities in planning and strategy; focusing investments on trade related infrastructure, transport and optic fibres; trade facilitation and soft infrastructure; electricity power pools; the development of transport corridors; and the management of shared waterways.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

NOTE TO EDITORS

Trade among African countries stood at US $47 billion a decade ago – 11% of total African trade. It is now closer to 16%. That excludes informal trade, which some sources say might bring the figure closer to 20%. Trade levels stood at levels of around US $108 billion in 2011.

The continent has more than 40 currencies, and the world's largest number of landlocked countries. Regional cooperation would not only add US $45 billion a year – equivalent to half of all Overseas Development Aid (ODA) – but it would also improve the diversity of our supply chains.

Media contact

Magatte Wade, AfDB Head of External Relations and Communications: m.wade@afdb.org; +216 98 34 37 34.

EGYPT - Technip Italy to build country's largest oil refinery

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:01:16 +0200

ROME, Italy, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- An Italian firm, Technip Italy SpA, is about to become a new leader on the international business panorama, having signed a contract with the Egyptian Soukhna Refinery and Petroleum Company to build the country's largest oil refinery at Ain-Sokhna (approximately 120 km east of Cairo). Present at the signing were representatives of the Egyptian Oil Ministry and State Oil Company Egp, with President and CEO Tarek El-Barkatawy, representatives of Technip's Egyptian partners, international financiers, Technip Italy CEO Marco Villa and the project's managers, and Ambassador of Italy to Cairo Maurizio Massari.

Louis Michel: Mali presidential elections key to restoring legitimacy

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:01:14 +0200

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- "Holding presidential elections in Mali on 28 July is the only way to restore legitimacy there' said ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly Co-President in Brussels on Monday, at the opening of its 25th session. When the UN mission is deployed in Mali in July, replacing most French troops there, "it should take care to avoid a security vacuum at all costs", he added.

"We cannot allow ourselves the least ambiguity, the least procrastination, on the holding of elections", stressed Mr Michel (ALDE, BE), adding that the presidential elections could be uncoupled from the legislative ones, which "necessitate the prior return of civil servants and basic services".

This week the joint assembly of members of the European Parliament and their counterparts from African, Caribbean and Pacific states are debating current developments in Mali, the Central African Republic, and the Republic of Guinea. They will also debate the future of economic partnership agreements, military coup threats and human resources for health in ACP countries. The Assembly will vote resolutions on Wednesday.

Central African Republic: President Djotodia and Prime Minister Tiangaye must be supported

"The transitional President of state Michel Djotodia and his government led by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye are determined to re-establish the chain the command and restore security and peace throughout the territory" of the Central African Republic, following the overthrow of President François Bozizé's regime on 24 March, said Mr Michel.

"We have before us a tandem which it is our duty to support, for the good of the country", he stressed.

Military coups d'État

"Defending democracy and fighting military coups require deep institutional changes", said ACP-EU JPA Joyce Laboso (Kenya). "If we are to entrench democracy, we must also address issues of inequality, exclusion and marginalization", she continued, insisting on "democratic means as the only acceptable way for settling political differences".

Violence against women

"When will the international community decide to explore every possible way to put an end to the atrocious ordeal suffered by women victims of unspeakable acts?" asked Mr Michel. Dr Laboso pointed out that "rape is often used as a weapon of war".

"Parliaments play an important role in the sustainable development of all countries" said Sean Barrett, Speaker of the Dáil Eireann (Ireland's lower House), also noting that the Irish Presidency of the Council had found an agreement on the development heading of the EU budget for 2014-2020.

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly brings together elected representatives from 78 European Union and ACP countries which have signed the Cotonou Agreement, which is the basis for ACP-EU development cooperation.

Co-Presidents Mr Michel and Dr Laboso are to give a press conference on Wednesday at 17.30 in the European Parliament press conference room (ASP 5G2).

NUSOJ Condemns Closure of Newspapers in Somaliland

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:00:18 +0200

MOGADISHU, Somalia, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) today accused Somaliland authorities in northwest Somalia of seeking to annihilate independent print media following a ban on two newspapers, owned by Hubal Media Group.

A court order which was issued by Somaliland's Marodi-Jeh (in Hargeisa) Regional court on 11 June 2013 ordered the Hubal Media Group to close down its operations with immediate effect without giving reasons for the action thus affecting both the daily Somali language (Hubal) and weekly English language (independent) newspapers, which are both published by Hubaal Media Group.

“This closure plays to an agenda of an administration that is more about stifling independent voices and free reporting,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. “It is further proof that media continue to be primary victims of a crackdown by Somaliland authorities to avoid hard truths and public exposure.”

The regional chief magistrate Faysal Abdullahi Ismail said the court order arose from a request from the office of the Attorney General, which was signed by acting Attorney General Adan Ahmed Musa and affects any printing house that facilitates the production of the Hubal media group publications while the ban exists.

The motive behind the closure of the media group is a news article Hubal newspaper published pertaining to the on-going dispute of Nile River between Egypt and Ethiopia in which the newspaper alleged that Somaliland administration has role in this dispute, siding one of the disputing countries, according to the editor–in Chief of Hubal newspaper Abdullahi Adan Omar, widely known Wayab.

“The decision of the acting Attorney General to request the closure is a clear example of abusive censorship that breaches Somaliland constitution as well as basic international standards of freedom of expression,” added Osman.

Abdullahi Adan Omar said that they were never communicated the decision of the court but they only heard from the government – controlled Radio Hargeisa about the decision of the court.

It is believed that the government action was initiated by a story published on 9 June, stating that a delegation of Egyptian officials who reportedly accompanied Yemeni businessmen came Somaliland on 8 June and met the President of Somaliland Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo to discuss the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over Nile river, which the newspaper reported that it raised suspicion between Ethiopia and Somaliland, subsequently forcing Somaliland foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omar to hold press conference on 10 June denying the said meeting and the arrival of Egyptian officials.

On 24 April, two Somaliland police attacked one of the editors of Hubal newspaper. The editor Mohamed Ahmed Jama, known Aloley, sustained a broken right hand and third finger of the left hand after a bullet aimed at him hit the wall above his head and rebounded several times after two masked gunmen attacked the offices of Hubal newspaper.

Jama told NUSOJ that the attack ensued around 23hrs as he and two other journalists were making final proofreading to the following day's issue. One of the suspected attackers was arrested and investigation has been going on until this court order closing down the media group emerged. According to the editor, the suspected assailant is actually a police officer named Ahmed Hashi Hassan who is stationed at the Mohamed Moge Police station in Hargeisa.

Journalists in Somaliland believe that this attack in April against the editor emanated from senior officials from Somaliland administration who could not tolerate criminal reports of the newspaper regarding the work of the national electoral commission.

NUSOJ considers that the closure of the media group is the inevitable consequence of an intolerable campaign against independent journalism in Somaliland since the current administration took office.

SECURITY COUNCIL PRESS STATEMENT ON ATTACK AGAINST UNITED NATIONS INTERIM SECURITY FORCE FOR ABYEI

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:31 +0200

NEW YORK, June 17, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The following Security Council statement was issued today by Council President Mark Lyall Grant (United Kingdom):

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack on the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism interim headquarters in Kadugli, Sudan, on 14 June, which resulted in the death of an Ethiopian peacekeeper and left two others wounded. They expressed their condolences to the family of the peacekeeper killed in the attack, to the Government of Ethiopia, and to UNISFA. They called on the Government of Sudan swiftly to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for UNISFA and called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to cooperate fully with the mission and the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism for the successful implementation of their mandates.