The African Development Bank's Malawi Field Office with the Southern Africa Resource Center (SARC) and the Development Research Department (EDRE) launched the 2012 African Economic Outlook (AEO) report in Malawi on October 4 at a workshop organized in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lilongwe.

The AEO launch was jointly led by Malawi's Minister of Youth and Sports, the Honorable Enock Chihana, and the Deputy Minister of Economic Planning and Development, the Honorable Khwauli Msiska. In his statement, Minister Chihana welcomed the focus of the 2012 AEO on the topic of youth employment and observed that it was important for policy-makers to put in place deliberate interventions that address youth issues in an integrated and holistic manner.

UNDP Resident Representative Richard Dictus and AfDB Resident Representative Andrew Mwaba made brief opening remarks focusing on the report's findings in terms of the macroeconomic outlook for Africa and Malawi, and the prospects and challenges of promoting youth employment.

They also acknowledged the strong collaboration between the Bank and the UNDP, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the support provided by the European Union in the preparation of the report.

The launch, which brought together a wide range of participants from the government, development partners, private sector institutions and academia, further served to deliberate on the 2012 AEO and approaches to creating employment for the growing youth population in Africa and in Malawi. Fundamental issues raised included the need for African countries to strive for growth that is inclusive, broad-based and sustainable. It was agreed that innovation and interventions towards improving productivity could significantly drive Africa's growth.