The African Economic Conference opened on November 12, 2008, in Tunis alongside the Ministerial Conference on Financial Crisis.
Jointly organized by the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the conference's objectives included:
promoting knowledge management as an important component of good policy design and implementation;
fostering dialogue and promoting the sharing of ideas among economists and African policy-makers;
encouraging and enhancing research on economic issues relating to the development of African economies;
providing an opportunity for regional and sub-regional organizations to disseminate results of their research as well as sharing information with African policy-makers regarding their work in the region.
The African Economic Conference provides a forum for the exchange of ideas among economists and policy-makers. The conference brought together some 500 participants.