ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on Saturday urged central African countries to exert more efforts on effective planning and operationalization of plans and strategies through strong policies and reforms so as to realize major development aspirations.
The urgent call was made by Mama Keita, Head of Reforms and Policies for Economic Diversification Section at the ECA, as she emphasized that "almost all Central African countries do plan but that there's a tendency not to use the instrument at its full potential."
"It's not an economic miracle per se. It's the result of effective and efficient planning and implementation," Keita said during a high-level meeting organized by the ECA under the theme of "Facilitating the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through Development Planning."
Experts and policymakers attending the meeting also analyzed the patterns of GDP per capita in Central African economies, as they emphasized that some countries in the region "have recorded very high GDP per capita but that the levels are hardly sustained for a long period."
According to Keita, Singapore could be seen as one vivid model in sustaining GDP per capita growth.
"Singapore strategically moved from a labor-intensive to capital intensive and then to a technology-intensive growth model. They are now moving towards a knowledge-based economy," she added.
"Can this model inspire Central African countries, which have more in terms of natural resources than Singapore?" Keita asked, adding that "this is possible but that there has to be efficient and strategic planning and policy-making."
"It has to be a deliberate attempt by governments to coordinate economic decisions and make the right choices," Keita said.
"Development planning and operationalization of plans and strategies through strong policies and reforms are crucial. Almost all Central African countries do plan but that there's a tendency not to use the instrument at its full potential," Keita said.
"The full cycle of planning, formulation, operationalization, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting must be meticulously attained in other to achieve development goals," she added.
According to the ECA, the high-level meeting, among other things, brainstormed to identify, discuss and agree on possible Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) accelerators in Central Africa, with due emphasis on SDGs 8 and 9, which advocates "good jobs and economic growth" and "innovation and infrastructure" respectively.
The need for creating an enabling business climate, the involvement of political leaders at the highest level of government to give the process more leverage, and training of human resources for implementing the SDGs are also said to be major intervention areas for Central African countries to focus on.
