There is an abundance of special initiatives, strategies and plans of actions, originating from both within and outside the United Nations, aimed at achieving various development goals in Africa. We can nevertheless take comfort from the fact that there is a large degree of convergence between the initiatives launched by the United Nations and those emanating from various African regional and subregional bodies. Indeed, the vision of the United Nations system's work in Africa today is to effectively and efficiently support Africa in realizing its vision of poverty reduction, peace and stability. As many of you have rightly stressed, the issue is not to design new initiatives, but to ensure that we follow through and ensure implementation of what has been agreed. Achieving a sharper definition of priorities should not mean a narrowing of focus.
Peace is a prerequisite for development, so is good governance.
And development and the eradication of poverty are themselves prerequisites for lasting peace. The political and the humanitarian, as well as the developmental, aspects are all relevant to a proper consideration of priorities for Africa. The idea of establishing measurable targets is, in my view, very important. The United Nations has accumulated a rich body of experience and mobilized considerable resources for Africa. Yet, the perception is one of little effectiveness.