Rabat — "It is difficult nowadays to imagine inclusive growth without economic and structural transformation, and without an inclusive public policy. Our countries can only achieve development with the help of human capital, and a political and institutional environment that would be favourable to investment, creation and innovation", said today in Rabat Azzedine Ghoufrane, WTO Chair at the Mohammed V University of Rabat.
The 11th International Colloquium in Rabat (23-25 November) on "Economic transformation, good governance and inclusive growth" is an opportunity for academics and experts from Africa to discuss growing correlations between these dimensions. While experts acknowledge that African economies are developing relatively quickly, they are calling for the optimization of efforts to speed up economic transformation and its beneficial impact on populations.
"Growth is quite strong in Africa, with an average of 5% over the last fifteen years. The goal now is to achieve a more stable kind of growth which would be less sensitive to global shocks and would be more inclusive", said Cécile Bastidon, a Lecturer at the University of Toulon. According to Bastidon, economic transformation consists in a radical transformation of economies' structures, engines of growth and development, a change which impacts multiple dimensions.
Countries' development efforts largely predate the international development agendas, such as the SDGs (Agenda 2030) or the Agenda 2063 for the development of Africa, said Omar Abdourahman, an Economist in charge of Social Affairs at the ECA office for North Africa. "What matters the most now is governance, in other words, how to implement policies more efficiently: economic transformation should help speed up inclusive growth for all populations across Africa. It should be a common denominator between all development processes, both at the sectorial and institutional level," he said.
The 11th Colloquium of Rabat is a joint event, organised by the ECA Office for North Africa, the WTO Chair at the Mohammed V University of Rabat, the Faculty of legal, economic and social sciences of Souissi and the University of Toulon Laboratory for Applied Economic Research in Development (LEAD). For three days, academics from a diversity of countries and fields, will discuss these topics, they will compare the results of theoretical and empirical studies, and examine good practices in the field of governance. Students will also attend this event.
The first days of the colloquium (23-24 November) will be dedicated to exchanges between experts and the launch of several books. On November 25th young postgraduates will be able to to present their work to senior academics. This will be an opportunity to increase the potential of young academics, who are the future of both education and research in the region, said WTO economist Mustapha Sadni Jallab.
"The next three days will be an opportunity to discuss, share, bring solutions and ideas to make our governments more inclusive. Participants will discuss how better governance, participation and transparency can provide what we are all missing to put the economy at the service of our populations", said Mohammed Rhachi, Vice-President in charge of Governance at the Mohammed V University of Rabat.
Note to editors
The Economic Commission for Africa (www.uneca.org) is one of the five regional commissions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ECA's office in North Africa supports the sub-region's development by helping its countries (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Sudan) formulate and apply policies and programs to achieve economic and social transformation.
For more information about this event, please visit www.uneca.org.
Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
