Fatima Haram-Acyl, African Union (AU) Trade and Industry Commissioner has called on stakeholders in the mining sector in Africa to identify strategies that will benefit the sector.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) made the call in a statement on Thursday.
Haram-Acyl spoke at the on-going 2017 Mining Indaba which commenced in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday.
The statement said that the event featured a policy dialogue for the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) Private Sector Compact.
“The rationale for this year’s policy dialogue is based firmly on the reality that time has come for serious conversation on the need to identify strategies and mechanisms for promoting shared value and share benefits in this sector.”
The statement also quoted the Mining Minister of Kenya, Daniel Muzee as saying “the nation’s Mining Act borrows heavily from the AMV, which paves the way for sustainable utilisation of mineral resources and good governance’’.
He also said that to achieve this vision, the private sector had to be involved.
The statement said former President Thabo Mbeki, guest of honour at the special session noted that the Vision was important to the continent and “we need a realisation for this vision.”
The AMV Compact was inaugurated in 2016 at the Mining Indaba, where it won early support from the Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa (MIASA).
The Compact is designed to close existing gaps between mining communities, the private sector and governments.
It consists of a set of twelve principles designed to offer improved value and benefits to all parties involved.
Governments and mining companies are encouraged to sign up to the Compact for themselves, using one of a number of flexible governance options.
The Indaba special session was set up to facilitate an open dialogue, guided by Compact principles, between governments and the private sector to explore areas of consensus and possible win- wins.
The statement added that all the 54 African Union member countries had adopted the AMV in order to ensure that mining activities contributed to economic transformation and benefit all African citizens.
It, however, said that successful implementation hinges on buy-in from the private sector and other key stakeholders in Africa, at both regional and country levels.
The AMV Private Compact encourages cooperation by leveraging the business benefits that the private sector will derive from its implementation at national and regional levels.
It primarily targets mining companies including oil and gas, Chambers of Mines and other mining associations.
The dialogue was hosted by the African Union Commission in partnership with ECA through the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), the statement said.
The AMV, formally adopted by African heads of state in 2009, puts Africa’s long term and broad development objectives at the heart of all policy-making concerned with mineral extraction.
It is the continent’s own response to tackling the paradox of great mineral wealth existing side by side with pervasive poverty (NAN)
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