ECA and the challenges facing Africa The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is the regional organ of the United Nations in Africa. Its mandate is to promote economic and social development of its Member States, encourage regional integration and enhance international cooperation for the development of the continent. The Commission provides means and services in support of the Member States including policy analysis, advocacy, building partnerships, communication, knowledge sharing, technical assistance and support of sub-regional activities. For more information on ECA activities, please visit the website: http://www.uneca.org.

In 2006, ECA Conference of African Ministers of finance, planning and economic development held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, decided to transform ECA regional offices into centres of excellence for the promotion of ECA operational activities, management and exchange of knowledge and socio-economic research.

HISTORY OF ECA-NA OFFICE
Established in 1958, ECA has today under its umbrella 53 member countries in five sub-regions : North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa.

Pursuant to its policy of enhancing its outreach and to better serve African countries, ECA established in 1963 offices in these sub-regions. Successive structural mutations witnessed by the ECA resulted in the reinforcement of the mission of these offices and hence the change of their appellation: Multi-national and Programming and Operational Planning Centre (MULPOC) in 1979, Sub-regional Development Centre (SRDC) in 1997 and ECA Office in the concerned sub-region in 2002. Thus, ECA Office for North Africa was initially established in 1963 with its headquarters in Tangiers, Morocco. Late in 2005 the office was moved to Rabat. The Office serves seven member countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan and Tunisia.

OBJECTIVES
The main objective of ECA-NA Office is to promote cooperation and integration among the seven countries of the sub-region through technical support to collective and concerted approaches aiming at addressing common development problems at the national and regional levels. The vocation of the Office as an arm of the ECA at the sub-regional level consists of facilitating networking and exchange of information among development actors in North Africa while serving as an interface between these actors and the ECA helping thus disseminating the recommendations and technical publications of the ECA. To support its member Sates, ECA-NA Office intervenes in many economic and social development spheres such as regional integration, macro-economic situation, investment, trade, growth, employment, fighting poverty, food security, water, environment, sustainable development, gender issues, information and communication technology.

ACTIVITES
The main activities carried out by ECA-NA Office focus on the priorities of the Member States and the regional economic communities. These activities include publications, meetings, seminars, consultative services and special events. To accomplish its mission with efficiency, ECA-NA Office is managed by a Director and a team of experts in various fields. The Office also makes use of competences available at ECA Divisions to meet the needs of its member countries and the regional organisations.

PARTNERS
Partners of ECA-NA Office are governments, international, regional and sub-regional organisations engaged in development and integration programmes in member countries, non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations, regional economic communities, particularly the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and the Community of Sahel Saharian States (CENSAD), the private sector, the civil society and the academic and research networks.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS
The Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE)) is the decision-making organ of ECA-NA Office. The committee provides the overall orientation for the Office work and meets once a year to monitor the work programme and make recommendations on important issues concerning economic and social development in the sub-region, and then submit these recommendations to the ECA Council of Ministers. The ICE Bureau is composed of a President, a Vice-President and a Rapporteur. Members of the Bureau are elected every year.

ACHIEVEMENTS
The Office publishes reports on different aspects of economic and social development in North Africa. These reports are available on the Office website and they can also be requested directly from the Office Documentation Centre which hosts also a vast array of publications emanating from the countries of the region, the Economic Commission for Africa and the UN system in general. The Offices publishes a study on economic and social conditions in North Africa on an annual basis.

One of the achievements of the Office is the Regional Integration Observatory in North Africa (RIO) with the main objective of establishing a platform for sharing knowledge and ensuring interaction to promote the process of regional integration. For this purpose, RIO endeavours to establish, collect, exploit, analyze and disseminate information in this area.

Updated information on the activities of the Office are available on its website: http://www.uneca-na.org.