MIDRAND, South Africa, 19 March  – The Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, briefed a high-level delegation of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on  March 19  on the progress being made in the implementation of NEPAD programmes and its 10^th Anniversary.

The central objective of the working session was to deliberate on the status of the development cooperation between the NPCA and Germany. The meeting was a follow-up to previous high-level engagements, including the first official negotiation between the African Union and Germany in November 2009, the AU-Germany consultations in April 2011, and consultations between AU/NPCA and BMZ/GIZ in October 2011. The meeting took stock of the ongoing cooperation between AUC/NPCA and the German government in the agreed-upon strategic areas of collaboration. They also assessed achievements recorded and challenges  confronting them.The BMZ delegation, which was led by Mrs. Ulrike Haupt, Head of Division Regional Development Policy Africa in the BMZ, together with Mr. Peter Conze, GIZ Regional Director for South Africa, Lesotho and SADC Programmes, was given an update on the progress that has been made with regard to the integration of the NEPAD Agency into the AU structures and processes.

In his remarks, Dr. Mayaki said in commemorating the 10th Anniversary of NEPAD, the Agency would give a strong signal on how Africa can harness its development challenges under the umbrella of the AU.