The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa's Development (AUDA-NEPAD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance their partnership and collaboration to accelerate the achievement of Africa's Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Signed at the Africa Union Office in New York City on September 27, the MoU aims to harness synergies arising from the organisations' mandates and establish the non-binding and non-exclusive arrangements necessary to ensure effective cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

Vera Songwe, UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA's Executive Secretary, said the MoU is a show of how much the two organizations can pool together and raise their ambitions to achieve what needs to be done in regard to Africa's transformation Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development agenda 2030.

"Our collaboration will push Africa's agenda forward, especially within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which we all believe in," said Ms Songwe.

"We have done well on advocacy in the areas of sustainable energy, climate change, industrialization, digitalization, and health security. But we need to do better on financing. More advocacy is needed for more financing as we prepare for COP26."

The objectives of this MoU are to implement the joint work programme for the period 2021-2023 in six broad priority areas of their respective mandates and function; build resilience for sustainable development in Africa as per Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030; explore any strategic initiatives that might not be part of ongoing mandate but justified by the importance of unexpected events in line with the six broad priority areas.

Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, AUDA-NEPAD's Chief Executive Officer, said "The signing of the MoU shows high level of credibility on issues of development of the continent, especially in the areas of priorities on agenda 2030 and 2063."

The MoU, he said, "will be a living document that provides deeper cooperation between ECA and NEPAD - AUDA teams to work together, especially as the six areas of cooperation identified in the MoU are in line with what the two organizations have been doing together."

The operationalisation of this MoU will be guided by the pursuit of a common African Union vision through the implementation of the Agenda 2063 in concert with the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

Areas of cooperation under the MoU include, among other things; Climate Resilience and Governance, Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources Management; Sustainable Energy, Nexus Energy-Water-Food and Empowerment of Rural Communities; Knowledge Management and Evaluation, and Human and Institutional Development; Science, Technology and Innovation; Economic Integration, Macroeconomics and Governance Policy; Wealth Creation - Industrialization.

A previous MoU signed with ECA during the time of the then NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) entered into force in October, 2014 for three years, with possibility to be extended for two more years. The same will apply to the new MoU.