Build strong institutions for peace and development - President Mnangagwa

President Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe has called on member states of Africa to continue to build strong institutions at all levels, entrench democracy and good governance as a prerequisite for peace and development.

He said failure for these could only divert the resources that member States would need to embark on conscious development projects and programmes to quench the thirst of its teeming youth for jobs, health and education.

President Mnangagwa said these at the official opening of the Sixth Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-6), which kickstarted Monday at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The overall objective of the sixth session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development is to conduct a regional follow-up and review progress made, facilitate peer learning and advance transformative solutions and actions to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 goals.

These messages serve as Africa’s collective regional input to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development convened annually under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council.

President Mnangagwa said climate change and its effects on the environment needed prioritisation in line with the Paris Agreement as countries continue to experience the devastation brought about by drought that deserved urgent action.

He said climate change could derail all the gains that had been made as a continent and the time to act was now.

He said there was a need for Africa to craft Africa's own data on SDGs to tell its narration and demands an accurate and credible data for purposes of monitoring and evaluation and therefore commended the ECA for rising to occasion and providing national views and positions.

President Mnangagwa said the Zimbabwean government was accelerating resource mobilisation and called on multinational agencies to support address the funding gaps in Africa.

He said his administration was pursuing a smart and precision agriculture to retool and invigorate the sector with support from the private sector geared towards food sufficiency.

Ms Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of UN said the principles that saw Africa record moderate successes in the health front should be scaled up to achieve the SDGs and refusing to leave anyone behind.

She said the scope of task was immense but with more ambition, more mobilisation, collective efforts and harnessing national financing for all frameworks has the capacity to deliver the expectation of all.

She said "with leadership full of energy and exhibiting transparency the next future, our future is now," adding that national actions should be aligned.

Ambassador Kwesi Quartey, Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission said the call for action was a clarion one to work towards silencing the guns as the lack of peace and security made development elusive.

He said the time to join resources both human and material to deliver on the twin agendas of 2030 and 2063 was now and without a delay.

He said the ARFSD was an intergovernmental platform aimed to review progress, share experiences and lessons learned, and build consensus on recommendations in the form of key messages to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 of the African Union.

Madam Nezha El Ouafi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and African Cooperation and the outgoing Bureau Chief called on the UN systems and the World Bank to continue to support the realisation of the SDG goals.

She said systems and partnerships should be strengthened in a South-South Cooperation with special aid going to vulnerable groups especially women and children.

Dr Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UN Economic Commission for Africa said environmental consequences could disengage and distract the delivery of prosperous Africa if "We failed to collectively harness the resources of the continent.

She said the youth have declared their readiness to create their own jobs demanding the creation of a conducive environment for a takeoff.

A youth climate change ambassador and advocate, Master Kiso Lati, appealed to Heads of State to act now as the danger of environmental consequences loomed.

He suggested the creation of knowledge hubs for the youth, the mainstream advocacy.