ECA, AU to host inaugural Africa Development Week
The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Union (AU) will host finance and economic ministers of the AU at the inaugural Africa Development Week from March 31 to April 5, 2016.
The ministerial conference is on the theme “Towards an Integrated and Coherent Approach to Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.”
According to a statement from the ECA copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the Africa Development Week will take place along with the annual high-level joint ECA-AU ministerial conference which will be preceded by a technical meeting of experts.
Nearly thirty side events organized by the ECA, AU and partners would also be held alongside the inaugural Africa Development Week, on topical issues including migration, industrialization, regional integration, and recent global agreements such as the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Over 3,000 high level delegates including heads of state, former heads of state, member states, civil society, media and experts in various sectors of industrialization, energy, statistics, banking, and climate change are expected”, the statement said.
Highlights of the development week include the Annual Adedeji Lecture 2016 to be delivered by renowned Development Economist Ha-Joon Chang who teaches economics at the University of Cambridge. Chang is the author of widely discussed policy books, most notably “Kicking Away the Ladder” and “23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, and Economics.”
Other major events include the launch of ECA’s flagship – the 2016 Economic Report on Africa, looking at Greening Africa’s Industrialization.
The ECA said it will also launch 20 Country Profiles envisioned to be valuable and unique sources of comparative data to aid strategic planning for member States, as well as the Africa Governance Report IV on Measuring corruption in Africa, a report on Investment Policies and Bilateral Investment Treaties in Africa; and a report on Global Governance and the Tragedy of Refugees, among others.
“The Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa) will also hold its 17th session to discuss UN support for implementing Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. While the Caucus of Governors of African Central Banks will hold their annual meeting to address their role in Africa’s transformation amidst turbulent times”, the ECA said.
By Emmanuel Odonkor