VIENNA, 3 September 2021 – UNIDO Director General LI Yong delivered a speech at the Ministerial Session of the Third Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee of Trade, Industry and Minerals, which was organized virtually by the African Union Commission’s Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining.

“UNIDO is a key partner in the preparation of the many strategic documents that will be considered by the Committee before their submissions to the Heads of State and Government during the African Union (AU) Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification, which will take place in November 2021”, said Li. “UNIDO is proud to co-organize the Summit, and to foster inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Africa”.

The DG also highlighted an ongoing collaboration on Regional Value Chains-development, affirming that “under the leadership of the AUC, UNIDO and other partners have initiated a collaborative study on the mapping of regional value chains. We hope that the findings from this study will contribute to the development of a robust evidence-based pan-African regional value chain strategy“. The study will result in the formulation of an Action Plan for implementation of Regional Value Chain Upgrading programmes that take advantage of the opportunities offered by the AfCFTA. The study is expected to support the establishment of a new industrialization framework for the continent that would take into account Africa’s changing socio-economic and political landscape, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The Third Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee for Trade, Industry and Minerals focused on ‘Deepening economic integration through interconnected and competitive product value chains based on local commodities’ and deliberated on a number of policy documents, including the draft African Commodity Strategy and its Action Plan, the draft Africa Quality Policy the Africa Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) Business Plan; the African Minerals and Energy Resources Classification and Management System (AMREC); the draft African Fashion Industry Value Chain and Pan African Fashion Initiative Strategy; and the Study on Financing Industrialization. The Technical Working Group (TWG) of the AU Summit on industrialization and Economic Diversification also reported on the preparations and status of the November Summit. UNIDO updated on the progress made in the implementation of IDDA III.

The three-day meeting was attended by African Union Ministers and Senior Officials responsible for Trade, Industry and Minerals; Representatives of AU Regional Economic Communities (RECs), African Union institutions and other AUC Departments; and International Development and Technical Cooperation Partners including AfDB, EU, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNECA and UNIDO.

The Specialized Technical Committee for Trade, Industry and Minerals is a policy-making organ of the African Union Commission, which takes place prior to the Executive Council (Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs) and the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in November 2021.

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Victor Djemba

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