CM/Res.850 (XXXVI)
RESOLUTION ON TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION AMONG AFRICAN COUNTRIES
The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Thirty-sixth Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 23 February to 1 March, 1981,
Having considered the report of the OAU Secretary-General on Technical Co-operation among African countries (Doc.CM/1109 (XXXVI)),
Guided by the spirit of solidarity and the principles of the Inter-African Convention on the Establishment of a Technical Co-operation Programme adopted by the OAU Summit Conference in Kampala in July 1975,
Recalling the provisions of Resolution CM.Res.412 (XXIV) adopted by the Twenty- fourth Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers in February 1975 on the establishment of an OAU Technical Co-operation Fund,
Conscious of the importance of Inter-African Technical Co-operation which constitutes a dynamic factor for individual and collective self-reliance in accordance with the guidelines and objectives of the Lagos Plan of Action and Final Act:
TAKES NOTE of the report of the OAU Secretary-General;
REAFFIRMS its commitment to the principle and guidelines of the Inter-African Convention on the establishment of a Technical Co-operation Programme;
REITERATES its commitment to the provisions of Resolution CM/Res.412
(XXIV) on the establishment of an OAU Technical Co-operation Fund and REQUESTS the OAU Secretary-General to define, in consultation with the OAU
Advisory Committee on Administrative, Budgetary and Financial Matters, the policy and operational methods of the Fund, in accordance with Paragraph 2, 3, and 4 of the same resolution;
APPEALS to OAU Member States, which have the means, African and International Specialized Agencies to contribute generously to the OAU Technical Co-operation Fund;
REQUESTS the OAU General Secretariat, in collaboration with the ECA, with the assistance of the UNDP and other Specialized Agencies, to take through inventory of the needs in and availability of African experts and to make recommendations likely to contribute effectively to the implementation of the Inter-African Technical Co-operation Programme;
URGES Member States to include technical co-operation programmes in their national plans and more especially in the sub-regional and regional plans;
URGES the existing sub-regional and regional Economic Communities to co- ordinate the efforts and programmes of activities of African inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations with a view to promoting technical co - operation among sub-regional and regional member countries;
REQUESTS the OAU Secretary-General to undertake the necessary measures and consultations with African sub-regional and regional Economic Communities, the UNDP and other African and International Specialized Agencies with a view to finding a satisfactory formula to promote, strengthen, intensify and co -ordinate technical co-operation programmes and activities in order to better attain the objectives of the Lagos Plan of Action and Final Act;
REQUESTS the OAU General Secretariat to participate actively in seminars, symposia and meetings organised by the UNDP on technical co-operation among
developing countries and more particularly those concerned with the implementation of the recommendations of the Nairobi Conference on Technical Co-operation among African countries;
APPEALS to the UNDP and other appropriate agencies to co -ordinate systematically their short and long-term programmes with the OAU in the field of technical co-operation among African Countries in the light of the provisions of the Lagos Final Act;
CONGRATULATES the UNDP on its collaboration with the OAU and on its sustained interest in and continued support for the programme of technical co - operation among African countries.