AU, ECA SET TO ASSESS DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

THE 2011 edition of the Economic Report on Africa (ERA), the annual flagship publication of the United Nations' Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union(AU), will examine the role of the state in  sustainable development, according to a statement from ECA's Economic Development and NEPAD Division (EDND).

The statement, made available yesterday to The Guardian, says the report will also provide an opportunity for examining the record of the state in promoting development in Africa, share concrete success stories in Africa and elsewhere as well as recommend concrete actions for sustaining development and promoting economic transformation on the continent.

It says the ultimate goal of the report entitled: 'The role of the state in economic transformation', is to provide evidence-based and policy-oriented framework for enhancing the role of the state in performing the key tasks necessary for economic transformation in Africa: planning of the development process and the formulation and implementation of relevant development plans and policies.

Evidence from Asia and the West provides the basis for  this focus on the role of the state in governing development, said Nigerian Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie, the Director of EDND, which is anchoring the preparation of the report in collaboration with the African Union.

Nnadozie said the spectacular transformation of China into a global economic power, a resurgent India and recent interventionist policies of Western governments in addressing the impact of the global crisis had refocused attention on the role of the state in development.

'It is now well-known that the state has played and continues to play a key role in the Chinese economic miracle and even those of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea before it', he said