1. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 1 ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICE DURING 2006-2007

2. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 2 Main objectives 1.Enhanced Capacities of Member States, RECs and other IGO and Civil Society organizationto formulate and implement harmonized macroeconomic and sectorial policies and programmes to address key sub regional development priorities in North Africa 2.Strengthening partnerships at the sub regional and country levels to support policy advocacy, policy-making and implementation of sub regional integration programmes in North Africa

3. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 3 Status of Implementation of Main Objectives –Reports on economic and social conditions in the North African Region (2006 & 2007) –Experts Group Meetings (governance, rules of origin, gender, ICTs, water, migration, sustainable development and trade facilitation) – A North Africa Development Forum –Publications (water, rules of origin, economic governance, HIV-AIDs and migration) –Technical Assistance

4. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 4 -Member States -The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) (Memorandum of Understanding signed in January 2008) -CEN-SAD,as well as other RECs-related groups (UME,Young entrepreneurs, Businesswomen) -UN System -AfDB, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) -Private Sector and Civil Society -Academia Main Partners

5. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 5 Main Activities implemented Meetings/Workshops/Seminars/Ad Hoc Experts Group Meetings (9) ICE Meeting (3) Publications (8) Special Event Technical Assistance Cooperation/Partnership

6. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 6 Meetings/Wokshops/Seminars/Ad Hoc Experts Group Meetings Rules of Origin (2006) Mid-term Review of an e-plateforme in North Africa (2006) Mainstreaming Gender in Development Policies in North Africa and the AGDI (2006) Reconciling trade facilitation and conformity with financial governance standards (2007) The role of information and communication technology in trade promotion (2007) International Migration and Development in North Africa (2007) Transport Policies and Regional Integration (2007) Sustainable development in North Africa: experiences and lessons (2007) Capital Mobility in North Africa (2008)

7. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 7 The ICE Meetings 3 meetings of the ICE: - The 2006 Session with « Trade and Regional Integration » as its main theme (April 2006) - The ICE Intermediate Meeting ( February 2007 ), in preparatory to ECA Conference of Ministers - The 2007 Session having «Infrastructure and Regional Integration» as its thematic (June 2007)

8. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 8 Publications In 2006 Water, Environment and Sustainable Development in North Africa Intra-regional Trade: Rules of Origin in North Africa Economic and Social Conditions in North-Africa : A Mi-Decade Assessment In 2007 International Migration and Development in North Africa Designing Codes and Implementing Standards for Corporate Governance: Account of Proceedings of the Ad Hoc Experts Meeting Transport Policies and Integration In North Africa Sustainable development in North Africa: experiences and lessons Capital Mobility in North Africa (In progress)

9. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 9 North Africa Development Forum: Trade for Growth and Job Creation Organized, in collaboration with the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and a number of development partners The forum contributed to ongoing national and international initiatives aiming at intensifying inter as well as intra-regional trade flows and insuring that trade policies are adequate with sustainable development Marrakech Declaration: recommendations and actions agreed upon by all the stakeholders in order to respond to employment challenges in North Africa through the revitalization of intra-regional trade.

10. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 10 Collaboration, international cooperation and inter- institutional harmonisation and liaison –Participation to the African Plenary Meeting on « PRSPs and MDGs» Cairo, Egypt, 26-28 march 2006 –Functional support to the implementation of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism process in Algeria (Algiers, 10 November – 5 December 2006) –Participation to ADFV on « Youth and Leadership in the 21 st Century» Addis-Ababa, Éthiopia, 16 to 18 November 2006 –Participation to the workshop on Trade and Environment organized by ESCWA, 20 November 2006

11. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 11 Collaboration, international cooperation and inter- institutional harmonisation and liaison… Participation to the meetings of the Joint Committee on Water, Environment and Development – Arab countries » (21-23 November 2006) Contribution to African Statistics Day (organised by the « Haut Commissariat au Plan (HCP) » of the Government of Morocco (2006 & 2007) Participation to the workshop on progress in the first step of the study on medium and long term strategy framework in the context of NEPAD (Tunisia, 2007) Participation to the coordinating meeting of the UN System in the Arab Region on the theme « Delivering as one », Cairo (Egypt) November 2007

12. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 12 Collaboration with the UN System ESCWA and ECA have signed a MOU in May 2007 (as recommended by OIOS), which provides an implementation framework for joint activities between the two institutions UN Country Teams in the Region Coordination of the contributions granted by UNFPA, UNDP and the UNICEF to country representatives participating to ADFV Support to UNFPA / Morocco in the organization of a National Workshop on Migration (Rabat, July 26-27, 2006) Participation in activities organized by the UN Country Team for the elaboration of the UNDAF Morocco for 2007-2011 Participation in activities of the UN thematic groups on the HIV / AIDS, youth and migration Contribution to the Ad Hoc Experts Group Meeting on “Gender Mainsteaming in development policies (Tunis, Tunisia, July 24-28, 2006)

13. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 13 Knowledge Management End 2006, the SRO organized a meeting to discuss the Knowledge Management Initiative launched by ECA. The meeting provided an opportunity to: Discuss Knowledge Management Concepts Capitalize on past experiences Explore solutions that have been used by ECA partners Propose solutions for a better knowledge management Set up a mechanism for Knowledge management Identify potentiel experts and partners to participate in the pocess 2007: Training and launching of the Initiatives

14. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 14 Fellowship Programme The Office has continued its short term fellowship programme launched since 2005 in favour of youths, holders of university degrees In this context, the Office received from April 2006 to December 2007: -12 students from Moroccan Universities and International Schools -6 Students from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration of Tunis -1 Trainee from Mauritania -3 from Ivory Coast -4 students from 4 foreign universities : The Academy of the Young Diplomats of Poland; Université Sorbonne Paris 1; New York University and, Stuttgard University

15. Economic Commission for Africa Office for North Africa Twenty Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) - Rabat, Morocco 10-13 March 2008 15 Thank you Jean-Paul Gondjé jgondje@uneca.org