The overriding need to strengthen consultation, coordination and coherence amongst the key implementers of NEPAD as the flagship development programme of the African Union (AU) has been emphasised over the past decade.

In moving the process forward, a NEPAD and UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) delegation led by Director of Corporate Services Bankole Adeoye is in the Zambian Capital Lusaka, for discussions with senior officials the ministries of Finance, National Planning, Foreign Affairs as well as Civil Society groups, on how best the Agency can coordinate its structures at country and regional level.

The main drivers of this process will be two consultants with vast experience in the NEPAD processes - Ambassador Olukorede Willoughby former NEPAD acting CEO and Mr Ibrahima Mbaye, Senegal’s fromer Minister Counsellor in charge of NEPAD. They will identify the main focal points with whom NEPAD will work to map its coordination structure, provide guidelines on their role and update the database on these focal points.

At a meeting with the Assistant Secretary-General of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), Ms Nagla El-Hussainy, Mr Adeoye explained the importance of the validation exercise, stating that it would ensure more participation of regional economic communities in NEPAD’s development agenda

“We really want to bring on board COMESA, which spans a wide region from east to southern Africa to mobilise support for regional development projects on the continent,”said Mr Adeoye.

In addition to the Focal Persons Working Session, NEPAD will also hold a preparatory meeting with various development stakeholders for the Dakar Investment Summit on African Infrastructure to be held in Senegal early next year. CEO Dr Ibrahim Mayaki will attend the planning meeting, which will discuss how the Dakar Summit will galvanise support to accelerate implementation of key priority regional Infrastructure projects within the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa PIDA Framework

The Investment Summit is being co-organised by the Government of Senegal and the NEPAD Agency and other development partners, bringing together the continent’s most influential leaders from government, industry and finance to accelerate African investment into infrastructure.