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Hon. Dr. Richard Konteh Deputy Minister 1 in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development was among over 40 Government Ministers that attended the Regional Ministerial Review Conference on Implementation of the Dakar/Ngor Declaration and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+15) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday 23rd October, 2009.
The Ministerial meeting, which was preceded by an expert meeting wherein key issues were discussed, was organized by the United Nations Population Fund in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission.
The Regional Review meeting was convened under the theme: 'ICPD and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Working As One.'
Hon. Dr. Richard Konteh who led Sierra Leone's delegation to the conference said the primary objective of the meeting was to provide a forum for African Ministers to review the progress made in the implementation of the ICPD Plan of Action (PoA) and agree on polices and actions to ensure successful implementation of the ICPD PoA by 2015.
During the confab, the Deputy Minister of Finance shared with his colleagues progress made by the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone in addressing core issues related to reproductive and child health, youth unemployment, high infant and mortality rate, HIV/AIDS, gender development, girl child education among others.
He renewed the Government's commitment to improving the state of affairs in the country and called for more international support to enable Sierra Leone attain the MDGs.
Senior Development and Planning Officer in charge of Population and Development Strategies Project in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Mr. Mohamed Lebbie took part in the expert meeting.
The Information Attaché at the Sierra Leone Embassy in Addis Ababa, Mr. Abdul Karim Koroma also attended the meeting.
The meeting, which was attended by 175 participants also attracted the following United Nations bodies and specialized agencies: International Labour Organization (ILO); United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Observers from the following Member States of the United Nations were also present: Austria; China; Denmark; Finland; France; Greece, India; Israel, Italy; Mexico, Netherlands; Norway, Romania, Serbia, State of Palestine; Slovak, The Vatican, United States of America and Venezuela.
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