19 April 2017: UN Secretary-General António Guterres and African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat discussed complementarities and synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 during the first UN-AU Annual Conference. The Secretary-General and the Chairperson signed a joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security, and agreed to prepare a joint framework on sustainable development, focusing on implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.
Convening the joint conference on 19 April 2017, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, Guterres and Mahamat underscored the importance of a strategic partnership between the UN and the AU to promote good governance, sustainable development, peace and security and human rights in Africa. They recognized progress on strengthening mechanisms for collaboration between the UN and the AU, and pledged to strengthen and deepen this partnership.
The Framework on partnership for peace and security also calls for joint efforts to address climate change.
The UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security outlines priority areas for cooperation on conflict management, prevention and mediation, and early warning. The Framework also calls for joint efforts to address climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
On the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063, the UN and AUC heads highlighted the Agendas’ holistic, integrated approach to the nexus between development, good governance and peace and security. They highlighted the role of sustainable development and good governance in conflict prevention and sustaining peace. They agreed to work together to implement the AU’s ‘Silencing the Guns by 2020’ initiative, and to ensure coherence with SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). Guterres and Mahamat further agreed to work together to achieve Africa’s development goals, including with a focus on youth empowerment, strengthened efforts on global and regional mechanisms for implementation and reporting, enhanced support for the African Peer Review Mechanisms (APRM), and support for resource mobilization.
The next UN-AU Annual Conference will take place in April 2018. Additional meetings to take stock of progress in the UN-AU partnership will convene on the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and AU summits.
Also on the UN-Africa relationship, the UN Secretary-General released a report titled, ‘UN system support for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development,’ (E/AC.51/2017/12), stressing the need for UN entities to enhance coordination and coherence. It calls for improving synergies and coordination in implementing all development frameworks in Africa, particularly NEPAD, Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda. The report further recommends mobilizing more resources and enhancing partnerships. The report also recommends that UN entities include the AU theme for 2017, ‘Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth,’ in their activities and programmes. [Communiqué of UN-AU Annual Conference in New York] [E/AC.51/2017/12]