The second meeting of the African Regional Partnership (ARP) for Sustainability and SDG Reporting was held in the virtual format on 23 June 2022. It was chaired by the Ministry of Finance of Cameroon and co-chaired by the Institute of Chartered Public Accountants of Kenya, as well as the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa.
The second Meeting of the ARP was co-organized together with the Pan African Federation of Accountants (PAFA) and the African Integrated Reporting Council (AIRC). The meeting brought together the relevant organizations in the region to share the latest international trends, standards and best practices in integrated reporting. The ARP is rapidly growing and welcomed at the meeting its 50th member from Tanzania.
The Chair delivered opening remarks. The Vice-Chair, Ms Nonyana-Mokabane, Director in the Legislative Drafting Unit of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the DTIC) South Africa congratulated all members on the work of the platform and expressed her expectations from the partnership. She also underlined the importance of sustainability reporting in achieving the SDGs and its relevance to the agenda of the African Union for inclusive economic growth.
Richard Bolwijn, Officer-in-charge of the Enterprise Branch Division on Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD, thanked the group for providing regional feedback on the ISSB exposure draft on sustainability and climate-related disclosures and invited all participants to take part in the upcoming ISAR Session in November.
The keynote speaker, Professor Mervyn King, Senior Counsel and former Judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa in his keynote speech made a retrospective overview of the history from developing accounting and financial reporting to developing new standards on sustainability reporting. He stated that the IIRC emphasised the importance of sustainability reporting not only for estimating an enterprise value but also for analysing companies’ impact on nature and society.
In conclusion, the Chair thanked the Executive Committee for the work delivered and underlined the potential benefit that the Partnership as a powerful tool for cooperation and knowledge sharing.
