ACCRA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The inaugural African Political Parties Summit concluded Thursday in Accra, the capital of Ghana, with participating parties committing to promoting inclusive development and political representation in their respective countries and across the continent.
In a 10-point declaration, the parties pledged to prioritize the inclusion and development of women, youth, and other marginalized groups in their development and representation agenda.
"We resolve to take a more proactive, structured, intentional, and measurable approach to inclusivity and representation by nurturing political will and embarking on reforms that give more exposure and results for women and the youth," the parties pledged.
They also resolved to embark on reforms in their various countries to align electoral campaigns with long-term development planning and the urgent need for job creation, poverty reduction, and sustainable development.
For these reforms to be possible, the parties promised to engage key players at the national and continental levels to rethink and redesign governance architecture to promote effective and people-centered governance.
They made it a priority to establish a continental engagement framework that maintains neutrality and impartiality, aiming to promote opportunities for political parties across the continent to collaborate voluntarily to advance their shared vision and values toward the collective development of the continent.
Moreover, the parties also recognized the provisions of historic and longstanding ideals of South-South cooperation, non-alignment, sovereignty, and regional integration, pledging to cooperate with other regional political party platforms, including the International Conference of Asian Political Parties and the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In his closing remarks, Julius Debrah, chief of staff at Ghana's Presidency, noted that the inclusion agenda set at the summit is an urgent necessity that cannot be compromised.
"If we don't make proactive and intentional objectives to push the interests of the youth and women of Africa as a continent, we will have ourselves to blame in the future," Debrah said.
Jeff Radebe, special envoy of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to the summit and advisory board chairman of the Africa Governance Center, urged his colleagues to return to their various countries to implement the undertakings made at the summit.
"The political maturity of a nation is not in the absence of disagreements, but in the presence of cooperation despite disagreements," Radebe stressed.
The African Political Parties Summit was a collaboration between the Africa Governance Center, a Ghanaian-based governance think tank, and the government of Ghana. ■