EU Presidency Seminar on Africa

 

 

Parliamentary Partnership for Africa’s Economic Development in the framework of NEPAD and the MDGs

 

Helsinki, 23 – 24 November 2006

Venue: Parliament

 

DRAFT Program[1]

 

 

 

 

Thursday 23 November

 

 

11:30 – 11:50                  Registration of participants

 

 

 

 

Opening session

 

 

12:00 – 13:00          

 

Chair:                             Dr. Jan Nico Scholten, Executive President of AWEPA

Opening speeches:             Hon. Paavo Lipponen, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland
Hon. Samwel John Sitta, Speaker of the Parliament of Tanzania

Marjatta Rasi, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs Finland
Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa

                                               Arja Alho, Finnish MP, Head of the AWEPA section in Finland

 

13:00 – 14:00                      Lunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 1:       Parliamentary Action for an Improved

Investment Climate in Africa

 

14:00 – 15:15                 

 

Chair:                         Brendan Howlin, Vice President of AWEPA

Speakers:                 Geert Laporte, Head of Institutional Relations of ECDPM

Delene Mark, Chief Executive Officer of HOPE Africa
Kimmo Kiljunen, MP Finland and Vice-Chair of the PNoWB
Kurt Hoffman, Director of the Shell Foundation
Rosebud Kurwijila, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy & Agriculture

 

Theme:                  In recent years the international community has shown increasing concern with poverty in Africa. The Millennium Summit set a target to half poverty by the year 2015. What realistic priority actions should be taken by parliamentarians in both Europe and Africa to create a conducive investment climate for sustainable economic development and to enhance Africa’s full and beneficial integration into the global economy? What strategies and programs should be put in place to support private sector development from a NEPAD perspective? AWEPA will report back on the AWEPA conference about ‘Parliamentary and Private Sector Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction in the Great Lakes Region’ which took place in Arusha, Tanzania on 8-9 September.

 

15:15 – 16:15        Discussions

 

16:15 – 16:30           Coffee break

 

 

 

 

Session 2:       Economic Empowerment of African Women

 

 

16:30 – 17:30       

 

Chair:                    Arja Alho, MP Finland

Speakers:                 Winnie Byanyima, African Union Director: Women, Gender and Development

Dr. Jennifer Riria, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Women Finance Trust
Litha Oghana Musyimi, NEPAD Secretariat, Advisor Gender and CSO’s

 

Theme:                  This year the Parliament of Finland celebrates its centennial anniversary of ‘Fighting for Women’s Rights’. One hundred years ago Finnish women became the first in the world to have unrestricted rights both to vote and to stand for election. Women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy, in line with the MDGs and the objective of NEPAD to accelerate the economic empowerment of women. This session will address Finland’s long-standing cultural tradition of gender equality, the current situation in the rest of Europe and the state of affairs in African countries, including the importance and benefit of making affordable credit available to women. Europe and Africa can learn from each other by exchange of knowledge and experiences. Special attention will be given to the groundbreaking ‘African Women’s Protocol’, a main tool African MPs can use for the protection of women’s human rights adopted by the African Heads of State in 2003, at the Maputo Summit of the African Union.

 

17:30 – 18:15           Discussion

 

19:00                         Reception

Cultural programme: “Jakaranda”
         Host: Arja Alho, Finnish MP, Head of the AWEPA section in Finland

 

 

FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER

 

           

 

Session 3:       Update on the Global Campaign “Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS”

 

 

9:00 – 10:00            

 

Chair:                         Suvi Lindèn, MP Finland

Speakers:                 Patrick McCormick, Communication Officer, UNICEF Regional Office for Geneva 

Hon. Eng. Philip Okundi, Chairman OVC Committee Kenya

Heimo Laakkonen, UNICEF Representative for Kenya UNICEF ESARO
Francesca Boldrini, Director of the Global Health Initiative, World Economic Forum

 

Theme:                  HIV/AIDS has a deep impact on the overall economic development of a country (e.g. generating income) and at micro level effects many households for both current and future generations. This session will address how to engage businesses in public-private partnerships to fight HIV/AIDS.
In this session we will report back on the campaign in Africa and Europe launched by UNICEF and AWEPA to mobilize parliamentarians to scale up their efforts and that of other key decision makers for Children and AIDS responses. In addition attention will be paid to the UNICEF Global Campaign ‘Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS’ with five main areas, to be known as the Five Ps: PMTCT Plus, Paediatric treatment, Protection, Prevention and Partnerships, with a special focus on PMTCT Plus and Paediatric treatment.

                           

10:00 – 11:00           Discussion

 

11:00 – 11:15        Coffee break

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 4:       Parliamentary Oversight of Development Assistance

 

        

11:15 – 12:15

 

Chair:                         Kimmo Kiljunen, MP Finland and Vice-Chair of the PNoWB

Speakers:              Ben Turok, MP and Chair of NCGAP
Representative Parliament of Finland
Representative OECD Development Cooperation Directorate

Theme :                     In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 European countries made numerous promises to increase aid to Africa. European parliamentarians have a vital role to play in holding their governments to account. This session provides an opportunity for EU parliamentarians to give an update of the recent progress in the European Development field with a particular attention given to Economic Development and Private Sector Development with regard to the attainment of the MDGs looking at the issue from a NEPAD perspective. In this light we will also look at the targets set for Official Development Assistance (ODA) disbursements, future commitments of European States and the basic policies towards Africa.

 

12:15 – 13:00        Discussion

 

13:00 – 14:00           Lunch

 

 

 

 

Session 5: Recommendations for Parliamentary Action & Closing Remarks

 

 

Chair:                         - African MP

 

           

14:00 – 15.00        Recommendations

1) Africa

                            2) Europe

 

                                 Closing Ceremony

                            Arja Alho, MP Finland

Dr. Jan Nico Scholten, Executive President of AWEPA