This year's African Economic Conference (AEC) will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 30 October to 2 November and the organizers are now calling for papers to be presented and debated there from academics and development experts.

The theme of the 2012 conference is 'Fostering Inclusive and Sustainable Development in Africa in an Age of Global Uncertainty'.

The organizers of the AEC are the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Africa has largely escaped the direct negative economic effects of the global financial crisis. While other parts of the world have faced economic challenges, Africa's economies have largely continued to develop, with average annual growth rates of almost six percent.

However, this seventh annual AEC will debate the question of whether and how this growth can translate into broader and more equal development for the peoples of Africa.

Policy-oriented papers that are linked to the overall theme of the conference are of particular interest.

Papers on other themes are also welcome. Those themes include: economic growth, poverty reduction and inclusive development; economics of sustainable development including sustainable patterns of consumption and production; food and nutrition security and the prospects for a double Green Revolution in Africa; the changing role of macro-economic and structural policies in Africa, and private sector development and employment generation.

Other themes include: challenges to economic, social and environmental sustainable development and implications for the post-2015 agenda; deprivation and inequalities in income and non-income measures of welfare; the role of foreign direct investment, trade, regional integration and new economic partnership; strengthening Africa's economic institutions, building infrastructure and expanding markets for the poor, and technology transfer and innovation for inclusive and sustainable development.

Contacts

Samson Kwalingana

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Economic Development and NEPAD Division

P. O. Box 3005, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: +251-11-544-5407;

Osei Barfour

African Development Bank

B.P. 323

1002 Tunis-Belvedere, Tunisia

Tel: +216-7110 3574;

Sebastian Levine

United Nations Development Programme.

Regional Bureau for Africa,

New York, USA

Tel: +1-212-906-5913;