UN General Assembly
2006

peers under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The APRM is an African 49 06-53323 initiative aimed at promoting good governance through constructive self-assessment and peer review. We welcome the acknowledgements of the progress we have made in many areas and commit ourselves to continuing to make improvements in the areas identified in the peer review report. In the spirit of mutual accountability, it is our belief that the principles of good governance that prevail at the national level should also guide our relations with our development partners. Both sides of the ongoing governance debate should be given adequate and equal attention, particularly since aid effectiveness is also critical to the attainment of the MDGs. We believe that improving the quality and increasing the quantity of official development assistance (ODA) is another important set of measures that would improve development prospects. The quality of ODA should be improved by adopting needs- based approaches, providing more budget support, supporting national poverty reduction programmes, reducing waste and overhead, and channelling aid to