Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honor for me to be here this morning to launch the new annual report, Africa’s Development Dynamics and the Revised Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA 2). I would like to welcome Excellencies, representatives from Development Partners, distinguished participants from Member States and continental agencies, media, Civil Society Organizations, academics and other development stakeholders who are present today.

As the global economic landscape is changing, we should be more attentive and innovative in our approaches to find solutions for the development problems in Africa. The new report “Africa’s Development Dynamics”, fruit of collaboration between AUC and OECD, is very timely, as it will give in-depth analysis of economic issues in Africa and support decision-makers by proposing efficient and long-lasting solutions to the challenges facing Africa. The first edition of the report focuses on “Growth, employment and inequality” and is of particular interest as there are many concerns about high levels of unemployment and inequality in Africa.

After two decades of poor growth performance, Africa has achieved impressive economic growth. Since the turn of the millennium, the growth accelerated across the entire continent and many countries frequently experienced annual double-digit growth rates. However, the period of sustained growth in Africa has been accompanied by high-income inequality and has failed to create decent jobs.

The new report “Africa’s Development Dynamics” that is being launched will contribute substantially in designing efficient and coherent strategies aimed at promoting socio-economic transformation of the continent and addressing the challenge of inclusive and sustainable growth that is job-friendly, and reduces inequalities between and within Africa’s sub-regions and countries.

As you are all aware, during the 30th African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa in January 2018, the Heads of State and Government adopted SHaSA 2 with its Action Plan, Financing Plan and Resource Mobilization Strategy; as the Continental Strategy for the Development of Statistics in Africa for the next 10 years and called upon Member States to implement it.

SHaSA 2 is a joint effort between our four Pan African organizations namely African Union Commission (AUC), African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Economic Commission for African (UNECA) and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). It will assist the African Union Member States to produce timely and accurate statistical data for the monitoring and the evaluation of the National Development Plans as well as Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030.

Over the past years, Sudan has made numerous efforts for the implementation of the African Charter on Statistics and all international frameworks for the production of quality statistics. Sudan is conducting on a regular basis Agriculture Censuses and Surveys, Labour Force Surveys, and Population and Household Censuses and surveys.

Sudan is committed to implement SHaSA2 and will take all necessary steps to integrate the principles of the African Charter on Statistics and SHaSA 2 requirements into the National Statistical Law and the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics.

In addition, Sudan will continue allocating adequate resources to statistics development in order to comply with the Decision of the Summit.

To conclude, I would like once again thank the organizers for inviting me to the launch of these important documents.

I wish you all constructive and fruitful discussions today.

Thank you!