FINAL COMMUNIQUE OF THE SEVENTH ROUND TABLE OF THE SPOUSES OF THE COMESA HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

Transcription

1 0 FINAL COMMUNIQUE OF THE SEVENTH ROUND TABLE OF THE SPOUSES OF THE COMESA HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT Fleuve Congo Hotel, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo 26 February 2014 THEME: Enhancing intra-comesa trade through the development of micro, small and medium scale enterprises

2 Your Excellencies Heads of State, Your Excellencies Heads of Government and Heads of Delegations, Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Guests, 1 THE SEVENTH ROUND TABLE OF THE SPOUSES OF THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was held on 26 th February 2014 at Fleuve Congo Hotel in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, alongside the 17 th Summit of the COMESA Heads of State and Government under the theme Enhancing intra-comesa trade through the development of micro, small and medium scale enterprises. The Round Table was attended by: Her Excellency Mrs. Marie-Olive Lembe Kabila, First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and current Chairperson of the 7 th Round Table of the Spouses of the COMESA Heads of State and Government; Her Excellency Dr Christine Kaseba, First Lady of the Republic of Zambia ; Her Excellency Mrs. Tallaway, Minister of Gender and Chairperson of the National Women s Council representing the First Lady of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It was also attended by: Ambassador Nagla el Houssein, COMESA Assistant Secretary General for Administration and Finance;

3 2 Members of Parliament and Members of Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Members of Civil Society. The following countries, namely Madagascar and Malawi, were represented at the Round Table. The following participants represented their respective Institutions and Organisations: Federation of National Associations of Business Women in Eastern and Southern Africa (FEMCOM) and Graca Machel Trust. AFTER THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE ROUND TABLE, THE FIRST LADIES: Welcomed Her Excellency Mrs. Marie-Olive Lembe Kabila, First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo as Chairperson of the 7 th Round Table of the First Ladies; Expressed their gratitude to their Excellencies the spouses of the Heads of State of Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi and Zimbabwe for having provided exceptional and exemplary leadership of the Round Table of COMESA First Ladies for the period ; Recognised and expressed their gratitude to His Excellency Yoweri KAGUTA MUSEVENI, President of the Republic of Uganda, for his unfailing support to the region and his exceptional leadership as Chairman of the COMESA Authority over the last two years;

4 3 Hailed His Excellency Joseph KABILA KABANGE, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as in-coming Chairman of the COMESA Authority; Noted with great appreciation the presentation made by the COMESA Secretariat on the general overview of the SME programme and recommendations; Noted further with great concern the overall situation and the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls as revealed by the UN/AIDS Regional Bureau; Recognised the importance of the role of MSME in raising the social and economic levels of women and families in the Member States of the Common Market as well as their contribution in the creation of employment and wealth; Welcomed particularly the establishment of the COMESA MSME Fund; Congratulated Her Excellency the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo for her greatly successful initiatives towards the improvement of the status of women through micro, small and medium scale enterprises. THEREFORE: Their Excellencies the First Ladies of the COMESA Member States, under the aegis of Her Excellency the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Representatives of the First Ladies of the Arab Republic of Egypt and other COMESA Member States;

5 Reiterate their commitments made during previous Round Tables held in Kampala, Kigali, Djibouti, Kenya and Zimbabwe; 4 Welcome the continued support of COMESA Member States to the role played by the First Ladies in advocacy for the improvement of the living conditions of vulnerable groups, especially the orphans, the elderly and persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; Feel hereby that there is need to support literacy programmes for adult women and young girls, promote their access to education and training, and increase their awareness of the importance of family planning, a guarantee of success for women entrepreneurship; Call upon the COMESA Secretariat to help rural women and women from all sectors of society to participate in the formulation of policies by providing them with a platform and establishing a follow up mechanism of the resolutions made by the Round Table of the COMESA First Ladies. Concerning health related issues, the COMESA First Ladies: Recall the commitments made by African Leaders for the attainment of MDG4 through: a. The 2001 Abuja Declaration : allocation of at least 15% of public expenditure to the health sector ;

6 5 b. The Strategic Framework of the African Union (AU) for the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goal for the survival of the African child ; c. The Regional Committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO) of 2005 on the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals ; d. The adoption of the 2006 Regional Strategy of WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank on child survival ; and e. The 2008 Ouagadougou Declaration on primary health care and health systems in Africa. Request COMESA Member States: a. to ensure that mother and child health policies comply with the Millennium Development Goals, especially MDGs 1, 2, 3,4, 5 and 6, and re-emphasize firm accountability and strong leadership; b. to create a competitive and qualitative health sector through capacity building and foster public-private partnerships; c. to improve neonatal services, treatment and prevention of malaria, maternal health services and prevention of mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission by promoting the development of infrastructure which facilitate efficient and affordable access to health for women; d. to introduce mobile communications and information technologies which could connect women to health care facilities in rural areas and urban peripheries;

7 6 e. to allocate adequate percentage of the health budget to mother and child health programmes, purchase of antiretroviral drugs which contribute to longer life and other essential products; Concerning gender equality, the COMESA First Ladies: Urge COMESA Member States to continue promoting gender equality as a matter of priority by intensifying advocacy for the women participation at all levels, particularly in the development of trade and infrastructure, and to implement legal and policy reforms on gender equality; Concerning gender based violence, the COMESA First Ladies: Urge COMESA Member States: a. to adopt international and regional humanitarian measures which contribute to the protection and empowerment of mothers and pregnant women, particularly the United Nations Resolution 1325; b. to adopt measures which clamp down gender based violence efficiently, including traditional practices which are detrimental to women and girls, e.g. early marriages and female genital mutilation, by promoting cultural practices which are beneficial to women and young girls;

8 7 Concerning advocacy for small and medium scale enterprises, the COMESA First Ladies: a. Encourage cooperating partners to continue their support of COMESA programmes aimed at promoting women entrepreneurship ; b. Encourage COMESA Member States to continue providing a favorable environment enabling the private sector to meet its responsibilities, more particularly with regard to support to women and other marginalized social groups; c. Invite women in leadership positions to assume their responsibilities with regard to assisting their fellow women by establishing SME promotion networks. In conclusion, the COMESA First Ladies express their deep gratitude to His Excellency Joseph KABILA KABANGE, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Government and the people of Congo, for their warm hospitality. Long live the Democratic Republic of Congo! Long live peace in the COMESA region! I thank you.