From a Rational Point of View, ECA Fully Grasped the Real Problems in Côte d'Ivoire

3 June 2016
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)

Abidjan — The Cabinet Director to the Ivorian Minister of Planning and Development, Mr Yao Koffi, with great fanfare, presided at an important meeting aimed at disseminating Côte d'Ivoire's country profile, Africa's 2016 Economic Report under the theme "Towards a Green Industrialization in Africa" and the fourth 2016 Report on Governance in Africa based on "Measuring Corruption in Africa: the International Dimension Matters".

This took place on 10 June 2016 on the 20th floor of the Ministry of Planning, in the presence of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub-Regional Office Director for West Africa, Mr Dimitri Sanga.

The meeting was given even more colour thanks to the presence of top level officials from the Ministry of Planning and Development, the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Mines and Industry, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Regional Integration and Ivorians in the Diaspora, management bodies in the cocoa sector, Institutions in charge of politics and the promotion of good governance, the Gender Empowerment Department, the Health Statistics Service, the National Institute for Statistics, Universities, the Higher National Institute for Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSEA), the media, United Nations System Agency Programmes, the African Development Bank, development partners, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, experts, students and the Civil Society.

In his speech, the Cabinet Director "thanked and congratulated ECA for its numerous areas of assistance in his country, and then appreciated the fact that Côte d'Ivoire was given pride of place to host this launch". It was thus in this light that, in addressing the issue of the publication of Côte d'Ivoire's country profile, Mr Yao said "ECA has fully and rationally grasped the real problems in Côte d'Ivoire, and my country will put in all efforts to solve the thorny issue of poverty". As concerns Africa's 2016 Economic Report and the Fourth Edition of the Report on Governance in Africa, the Cabinet Director said "they are all relevant tools that ECA is placing at the disposal of African countries in order to ensure their economic transformation and improve governance".

Speaking on behalf of the Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr Carlos Lopes, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub-Regional Office Director for West Africa, Mr. Dimitri Sanga, emphasized that "Côte d'Ivoire has always accompanied ECA to help encourage the production and dissemination of knowledge that can support our continent in its development efforts". He then added that "it was in Abidjan, in March 2013, that the initiative to draft country profiles for ECA Member States was adopted during the Conference of African Ministers of the Economy, Finance and Planning". According to Mr Sanga, three main points stand out from Côte d'Ivoire's profile: (i) a highly favourable macroeconomic framework, (ii) a slight decline in poverty alongside health challenges and youth unemployment, (iii) an active process of economic diversification and industrial agro-processing.

As concerns Africa's 2016 Economic Report, Mr Sanga noted that the choice of the theme for this year, "Towards a Green Industrialization in Africa", confirms the priority given to structural transformation in Africa, mainly through industrialisation.

Addressing the issue of the fourth 2016 annual Report on Governance in Africa, on the theme "Measuring Corruption in Africa: the International Dimension Matters", he suggested that "it deals with the involvement and responsibility of the private sector, non-State actors and foreign stakeholders in the area of corruption", and indicated that "ECA places illegal financial outflows from the continent at more than $50 billion per year";

The presentation of these three major publications by ECA staff raised a lot of interest and enriching debates among the hundreds of participants. The following points trickled from the debates: (I) Côte d'Ivoire must put in more efforts to reduce its poverty problem, (ii) Africa must seek and find ways and means to enable it achieve economic transformation, and, in the same vein, (iii) it must do everything possible to improve on its governance systems. They also made recommendations and gave pointers to improve the next editions of these three major publications of ECA.

Read the original article on UNECA.

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