The fifth session of the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD) began in the Chad capital on Tuesday.
The delegates have their plates full for the next four days and some of the topics on the agenda Regional Strategy for Africa and the road map towards UN Guidelines on Safer Cities, Africa Urban Agenda and its linkage with AU Agenda 2063, Outcome of the take-off Conference on Strengthening Partnership for a New Africa Urban Agenda, Progress on preparations for WUF 7, Post-2015 Development Agenda and Prepcom 1 for Habitat III.
Chad’s Minister of Urban Development, Housing, Land Affairs and Administration Mr. Gata Ngolulou highlighted the pace of urban changes in the world, and particularly in Africa, and the reasons why the African Governments and actors responsible for the production of housing will have to make considerable efforts in view of the funding of housing. He also added that these governments need to respond to the proliferation of informal settlements, often unsanitary.
Speaking on behalf the Economic Commission for Africa, Ms. Thokozile Ruzidvzo talked of a refocusing process which was based on the fact that Africa was changing. ECA had developed a transformative agenda based on the imperative that Africa must actively pursue a strategy of commodity based industrialisation. Value addition to commodities would play a key role in achieving greater successes, she noted.
In her speech UN-Habitat Deputy Executive Director Dr. Aisa Kirabo expressed her thanks to the bureau of AMCHUD for creating the opportunity to participate in this meeting; she thanked the government of Chad and the hospitality of the Minister. She also paid tribute to the Governing Council Secretariat, the Committee of Permanent Representatives, in particular the African Group, and finally gave thanks to colleagues of UN-Habitat. She said this session of AMCHUD gives a timely opportunity to recognise consultative mechanism for Ministers of Housing and Urban Development. Since the first session in 2006, the conference has served as an important platform for knowledge exchange and recommendations emerging from AMCHUD sessions have served consistently in guiding policy making and informing concrete interventions to improve cities and human settlements in Africa.
He then invited the representative of UCGLA Mr. Annaim Oumar Abderrahama who said that his organisation was working closely with AMCHUD and was supportive of its mandate. |
