Manufacturing and productive activities have crucial impacts on job creation, sustainable livelihoods, food security and equitable growth; the key requirements for eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.
This was the message delivered to participants at the 20th Conference of African Ministers of Industry (CAMI-20) by the Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Mr. Kandeh Yumkella.
Industry must get a prominent role in the post-2015 development agenda, and feature in the Sustainable Development Goals, said Yumkella, speaking at the CAMI-20, which took place in the Kenyan capital under the theme, ‘Accelerating Industrialisation in Africa within the Post-2015 Development Agenda’.
“We need to ensure that industry gains prominence in the post-2015 agenda and in the Sustainable Development Goals. It is a great opportunity for Africa to ensure that its economic needs are recognised as a matter of global concern. In particular, there is a need to ensure that industrialisation is stressed as the key strategy for Africa to achieve the growth rates, job creation and economic transformation needed to eradicate poverty and meet associated development goals in the long run,” said Yumkella.
CAMI-20 was co-organised by the African Union Commission (AUC), the Government of Kenya and UNIDO.
Referring to the recent report by the UN high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda, titled ‘A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development’, Yumkella said: “The main recommendations of the report underscore the crucial impact that manufacturing and productive capacities have on job creation, sustainable livelihoods, food security and equitable growth. These are all key requirements for eradicating extreme poverty by 2030.”
After eight years as Director General of UNIDO, Yumkella’s tenure will come to an end in June, and he will focus full-time on his role as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All and CEO of the initiative.
“Over the years, with your support, UNIDO’s profile as a trusted, efficient and effective partner for prosperity has been raised to a higher level,” Yumkella told the conference participants. “UNIDO is now recognized as an agency with a highly relevant mandate, one that is focused on helping to achieve international development goals, and dedicated to building partnerships within the UN system and beyond.”
