How to achieve green growth in Africa will be the central question at the Sixth African Economic Conference (AEC) begins on 25 October 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Africa has one of the fastest economic growth rates in the world, averaging approximately six per cent a year.

But how can this growth be sustained without the fallout in terms of pollution, greenhouses gases and carbon use that other areas of the world have caused in their quest for prosperity?

At the four-day conference, economists and climate change experts from around the world will explore the vital theme of how Africa can achieve 'green growth' - that is how to help all African people to achieve prosperity through economic growth but at the same time avoid harming the climate with greenhouse gases, overuse of carbon, and other traditional side-effects of growth.

This is all the more important for Africa because at the moment the continent contributes only four per cent of global greenhouses gases. Africa has the chance, therefore, to maintain a clean record.

The AEC is co-organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB) the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Banks and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).