The African continent is not ready for Agenda 2063 goals – Pandor

Questions have been asked as to whether Africa is ready to get out of its status as a basket case of the world after many of the countries had been unable to make any move towards achieving the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063 development goals.

Many countries had not even begun to implement their plans on this programme designed to “build the Africa we want”.

Widespread financial constraints and poor institutional capacity were common factors holding Africa’s growth while many faced acute food security constraints.

Obligations not met

Following this week’s three-day retreat of the AU executive council on Agenda 2063 held in Kigali, Rwanda, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said many African states had not met their obligations on Agenda 2063 due to a myriad of challenges they face.

“So, a number were lagging behind even to the degree that they had not been able to provide reports on how they had implemented various aspects of the programme,” Pandor said.

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The gathering paid attention to the first 10-year review report of the implementation of Agenda 2063 and to prepare for a plan for the next decade phase of implementation.

Agenda 2063 is self-initiated Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming the continent into the global powerhouse of the future.

Continental goals

The strategic framework aims to deliver on the continent’s goal for inclusive and sustainable development with ultimate objective to attain the pan-African drive for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity.

To address food security, agriculture would be given attention because the continent was endowed with sufficient arable land and some with sufficient water.

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“So, we should be using those attributes in a much more quality-oriented fashion,” Pandor said.

In addition to water scarcity and poorly managed water resources, the lack of access to electricity was hampering economic growth in Africa.

Many African people did not have access to electricity while some were in even worse situation when it came to energy access.

Cleaner energy sources

Water resource management would be given extra priority considering also the urgent need to enhance the ocean economy which was not fully exploited in Africa.

“As we expand energy use, we don’t say use fossil fuels, we say use renewables, use cleaner energy sources. All of these were touched upon in the meeting, and they really form the broad agenda to be addressed,” Pandor said.