17-18 April 2019, France, Paris – The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), participated in the 2019 MENA-OECD Working Group on Corporate Governance meeting which was held at the OECD in Paris, France on 17-18 April 2019 under the theme “Taking Action for Sound Corporate Governance”.

The MENA-OECD Working Group on Corporate Governance was established in 2005  to serve as a regional platform on corporate governance that promotes equity market development for growth companies, enhances transparency and disclosure, improves the corporate governance of state-owned enterprises and supports women’s participation in corporate leadership in the Middle East and North Africa. Supporting implementation of international standards embodied in the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises, participants in the Working Group share experiences that are adapted to the region’s policy reform priorities.

The APRM, Africa’s home-grown governance assessment tool, was invited by the OECD to share African insight on the Corporate Governance of State-owned-enterprises (SOEs). The APRM took part in the panel that discussed “Implementing change to boost the corporate governance of State-Owned Enterprises”. Ensuring that SOEs operate transparently, efficiently and on a level playing field with private enterprises is crucial for market efficiency, economic development, and sound fiscal management. SOEs are a key feature of the economic landscape in the MENA region.

The presentation from APRM mainly highlighted the findings of the APRM review reports and the outcomes of the African SOEs Network meeting with regards to the Corporate governance of the SOEs. These are lack of clear ownership policy that hindered oversight and accountability; unduly political interference in the appointment of SOEs boards and senior management and the lack of transparency and disclosure. The contributions from APRM was very well received by participants of the meeting and the discussion thereafter revolved around the implementation of viable and effective corporate governance reforms to boost SOEs performance.

Moreover, the APRM delegation that was comprised of Ms. Tumi Dlamini and Ms. Ejigayhu Tefera held bilateral meetings with OECD with the objective of  fast-tracking the various bilateral initiatives such as the Global Hub for the Governance of the SDGs, High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2019, the Second African Network on the Corporate governance of SOEs as well as the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The Working Group brought together representatives of relevant government ministries and agencies, stock exchanges, investors, state ownership entities and corporate practitioners in the MENA region as well as their peers from around the world. The MENA-OECD Working Group on Corporate Governance is currently co-chaired by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) and the United Arab Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). The funding support comes from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

For inquiries please contact:

Liziwe Selana ( Head of Communications APRM)