STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL, SINDISO NGWENYA AT THE OPENING OF THE FIFTEENTH MEETING OF THE MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 16 TH OCTOBER 2016 Em/Oct.2016 0
Our Guest of Honor, Right Honorable Mahafaly Soloandrasana Olivier, Prime Minister of the Republic of Madagascar, Honourable Ministers of Foreign Affairs from COMESA, Other Ministers present here today, Your Excellencies, Ambassadors accredited to Madagascar and Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to COMESA, Distinguished Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honoured to welcome you to the Fifteenth Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. But let me first, on behalf of the delegates assembled here, extend our very sincere appreciation to the Right Honorable Prime Minister for accepting to open this meeting. Let me also convey our gratitude through you to His Excellency President Hery Rajionarimampianina, the Government and the people of Madagascar for hosting this meeting and for the very warm hospitality that we have received since we got to this beautiful Island Nation. I also taken this opportunity to extend our sincere gratitude to the Honourable Ministers of Foreign Affairs that are here today for their continued commitment towards the attainment of peace, security and stability and for the wise guidance that they have continued to provide over the years. Honourable Guest of Honour, We are now only four years to achieve the goals set by our Heads of State and Government committing to silencing the guns by 2020 and achieve a conflict free Africa that will make peace a reality for all its citizens, as contained in the African Union s 50 th Solemn Declaration of May 2013. It is with that in mind that I am convinced that our holding this meeting in a country that is on a recovery path will be very beneficial for us. Madagascar has been through a most challenging past that has denied them adequate time and the kind of stability that would enable a country to chart its development. Unlike many of the countries here today, the first signs of turbulence happened just 1
twelve years after independence in 1972 with sustained mass action and the removal of the first President from office. These trends of protest-instigated takeovers continued for most of the Madagascar s young history including the most recent coup of 2008. Such repeated incidents, coupled with relatively little support from the international community and the normal challenges that have faced most African Countries have left Madagascar with very little time to consolidate its democratic processes and economic development. Yet today, the evidence of determination and resilience are very clear in most sectors of the government and society. I am looking forward to benefit from experiences that our Guest of Honour will share with us because I am sure it will set the pace for this Meeting to meet its objectives and also place our region in the path of establishing a culture of peace. Distinguished Delegates, Before our Guest of Honour comes to share his wisdom with us, I would like to highlight one or two things from the agenda of today s meeting. I have followed the discussions of the meeting of the Committee on Peace and Security, which sat on 12 th and 13 th October 2016 and I am encouraged by the obvious desire by authorities in most countries to ensure that comprehensive solutions that prevent future relapses are reached. Out of the six countries that will be discussed here today, there are on-going national dialogues in four of these countries; while the other two countries show results from previous successful national dialogue and reconciliation exercises. What is more, these national dialogues have been called for/ or are driven by the highest office in the respective state, which is doubly encouraging because it speaks of political-will as well as a determination for the entrenchment of a culture of tolerance. It also shows a desire by the parties to address the root factors of the issues which can be attained if these dialogues are held in an honest, open and inclusive environment. 2
Honourable Ministers, Resolving conflicts comprehensively can no longer be seen as a long-term goal but it is now an urgent necessity because we are continuously facing other global challenges that require us to be stable and united as a region. Primarily, we are faced with the global phenomenon of terrorism, the impact of climate change and the global economic crunch, all of which require single-minded focus and determination to either eradicate or resolve conflicts. I therefore look forward to the guidance that you shall provide in addressing these issues as well as other challenges that face our region especially the negative forces that continue to operate in the Great Lakes Region. I commit that as Secretary General, to steer our programmes to respond to whatever directives given to our secretariat. In that regard, Honorable Ministers, I am honoured to highlight a few of the achievements of the programme on Peace Governance Peace and Security; We have now put in place a robust early warning system and we were honoured to complete our first structural vulnerability assessments which we disseminated to all countries last year. We are confident that addressing will contribute to finding lasting peace in our region; Secondly our post conflict programme has reinforced trade and investment in the Great Lakes region by establishing sixteen Trade Information Desk that have facilitated thousands of small scale traders with accurate and reliable information at the border areas. In addition, we are now at an advanced stage of establishing five border markets and access roads in the same region with an estimated budget of approximately 5.0 million euros, mobilised from partners. This focus has become a niche for COMESA because we recognise that peace processes do not end with the signing of agreements but the phase that follows is critical for ensuring lasting peace. Fourthly, we are contributing to the overall security of our region by supporting the ten countries that were affected the most by maritime 3
piracy. We are strengthening their capacity to fight financial crimes that result from piracy and other predicate offenses, as well as ensure that the illegally gotten money does not further perpetrate these crimes. Honourable Ministers, These are just a few examples, intended to reassure you that we have continued to implement the programmes as directed by yourselves. I would however wish to mention that the programme is experiencing reduced funding from most of the partners, which could hurt the programme in the longer run especially given that 97% of the resources for implementing these programmes are mobilised by cooperating partners. We shall also be calling upon you to provide us guidance to mobilise more resources from the region. In that regard, I seize this opportunity to congratulate the African Union on its decision to put in place a model for more predictable funding as adopted by the 27 th Assembly of the AU Summit that was held in Kigali in June 2016. I believe we can build on the work done by Dr Donald Kaberuka, the AU High Representative for the AU Peace Fund, in order to guarantee predictable and sustainable funding, as well as greater ownership by the region. With those few remarks, I am honoured to invite our Guest of Honour to make his opening remarks. I thank you all. 4