Delegates have converged on Tunis for the 5th African Economic Conference (AEC) which will focus on the theme: "Setting the Agenda for Africa's Economic Recovery and Long Term Growth."
During the 27-29 October event, African academics, policy makers, business people and development practitioners will join Bank staff in wide-ranging discussions scenarios for Africa's economic recovery and return to strong growth.
The conference is jointly organized by the AfDB and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (SABC).
Key figures attending this year's conference will include the World Trade Organization Director-General, Pascal Lamy, Tunisian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, as well as finance ministers and central bank governors from various African countries.
Over its five years, the AEC has become a premier forum that brings together outstanding academics and development practitioners in the field of economics.
The participants will represent an array of African and international institutions including the Central Bank of Kenya, the Bank of Tanzania, the Bank of Uganda, the Egyptian Financial Authority, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Brookings Institution.
The academic community will be represented by numerous world-class universities, including Harvard, Oxford, Gothenburg and the London School of Economics.
The conference will address Africa's position in the post-economic crisis world. The developing world continues to feel the effects of the crisis more than elsewhere. In Africa, the effects of the crisis on capital flows, export volumes and prices, remittances and tourism are far reaching. The crisis threatens to reverse trends in private investment and jeopardizes the gains from the good economic performance made since 2000.
The AEC will feature a wide-range of seminars to discuss these issues and the economic way forward for Africa. Important subject areas will include China-Africa trade; the role of the private sector; the promotion of savings and investment in Africa; the creation of new African financial products; development financing; fiscal policy; governance; green growth, and regional integration.
Contacts
Felix Njoku
