MEETING WITH THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS FOR THE PREPARATIONS OF THEICEA 2017: PRESENTATION BY MRS. NIALE KABA

On Friday 3rd February, the banquet hall of the Conference Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ hosted an exchange meeting between the Minister of Planning and Development, Mrs. Nialé Kaba, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System, Mr. Babacar Cissé, the diplomatic corps and representatives of international organizations accredited to Côte d’Ivoire. According to Mrs. Nialé Kaba the meeting aimed to inform the partners of Côte d’Ivoireabout the issues of the second edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA), which will take place from 28 to 30 March in Abidjan. She invited the ambassadors to serve as intermediaries in their respective countries, in order to facilitate the participation of their authorities at the highest level. For Mrs. Nialé Kaba, this meeting devoted to emergence is intended to be a forum of exchange and experience sharing that can speed up and consolidate the development of African countries. Her full presentation is as follows

YOUR EXCELLENCIES, HONORABLEAMBASSADORS AND HEADS OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS,
HONORABLE HEADS OF COOPERATION,
HONORABLE RESIDENT COORDINATOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNDP IN COTE D’IVOIRE,
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

First of all, please allow me to thank you for your massive and distinguished presence at this meeting of exchange and information, which marks the official launch of the second edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa, namely ICEA 2017.

The outline of my presentation is as follows:
First, I will present the issues of the ICEA, before recalling the main conclusions of the 2015 edition.
Then, I will focus on ICEA 2017 and present the objectives, the results,the expected target audience, the themes and the conduct of the sessions.
Finally, I will provide information for the registration.


YOUREXCELLENCIES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

1. ISSUES OF THE ICEA

The International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICAE) will be a platform for exchanges to stimulate debate on the conditions for the emergence of African countries in the light of the dynamics of structural transformation in emerging countries.

Its organization is an opportunity for countries wishing to achieve emergenceto learn from best practices, in order to improve their operational policies and strategies and accelerate growth and structural transformations, as well as the well-being of their populations.


The March 2017 edition is jointly organized by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in collaboration with the World Bank (WB), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)


2. RECALL OF THE 2015 ICEA AND ITS MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS


The first meeting, which was initiated with the aim of supporting and facilitating the capacity building of African countries to better plan and implement emergence, as well as pooling their expertise and documenting good practices in this field, was a huge success.


It was held in Abidjan from 18 to 20 March 2015 and dealt with three themes: (i) the Developmentalist State and Emergence, (ii) Changes in Patterns ofProduction and Consumption and (iii) Emergence and Human Development.


The 2015 ICEA produced the " Abidjan Declaration on the Emergence of Africa" which recommended the following:
(i) Theestablishment of a strategic intelligence center
(ii) The organization, every other year, of a conference on best practices when it comes to emergence and
(iii) The setting up of a high-level committee to ensure the political follow-up of the said Declaration and the creation of a Regional Executive Secretariat.


Two years after this first edition, and in order to ensure thatthose countries that formulated plans for emergence are moving in the right direction, Africa will once again meet in Abidjan, to see whether the policies initiated have begunto produce effects.


3. OBJECTIVES SOUGHT
The second edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA 2017) aims to:
- Deepen the debate on the issue of the implementation of the African countries’ plans for emergence, in the light of the experiences carried out in Africa and elsewhere in the world.


More specifically, the participants will:
- Discuss the best African practices when it comes to the implementation of plans for emergence from an institutional, economic and social point of view,
- Share the tools and methods of implementation to accelerate structural transformation and industrialization, in order to create jobs for the youth and women,
- Begin a peer learning process through the analysis of cases of African countries involved in the process of emergence,
- Start developing a network of exchanges and work between the structures responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of plans for emergence,
- Have a common understanding of the indicators (such as the index of emergence developed by the Group Performance) for evaluating the implementation of plans for emergence.


4. EXPECTED RESULTS
The main results expected at the end of the 2017 ICEA are as follows:
A better understanding of the dynamics of emergence in some African countries,
A better understanding of the bottlenecks that hinder the implementation of plans for emergence, including aspects related to development financing (option and risk),
Presentation of tools, methods and procedures for modernizing public administrations, with a view to setting up a platform for sharing best practices in the implementation of plans for emergence,
A better identification of margins of productivity and competitiveness in the main sectors,
Presentation of practical options to accelerate the industrialization of Africa and create jobs for the youth and women



5. TARGET AUDIENCE
The second edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA 2017) will bring together 400 personalities and representatives of governments, international development institutions, research centers, universities, the private sector, civil society organizations, etc.
It will be enhanced by the effective presence of African Heads of State and Government.
There willalso be some 60 guests from Africa, Europe, Asia and America.



6. THEMES AND CONDUCT OF THE CONFERENCE
The main themes selected for this edition are:
(i) The governance of public institutions and,
(ii) Structural, inclusive and sustainable transformation.
The 2017 ICEA will be conducted in the form of high-level panels consisting ofplenary sessions with presentations on the selected themes, followed by discussions.
Parallel high-level sessions and special side events will address various issues related to the central themes of the edition.



To inform the discussions on African best practices, case studies will be presented on Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius, Rwanda and Senegal.
These case studies will enable the analysis ofthe progress made in the structural transformation, organization and functioning of public services and their impact on human development.
The constraints encountered in this context will be discussed during the group sessions and confronted with solutions drawn from international best practices.


7. INFORMATIONAND REGISTRATION

YOUR EXCELLENCIES, HONORABLE AMBASSADORS AND HEADS OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS

I would like to invite you to serve as intermediariesin your respective countries, in order to facilitate participation in the second edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa at the highest level.
Arrangements for participation in the ICEA are all listed on the official website of the Conference: www.africa-emergence.com


YOUR EXCELLENCIES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
I would like to thank you for your kind attention.