Africa: Migration and the Continental Free Trade Area are Drivers of Africa's Economic Prosperity

In her remarks made at the second Africa-African Union-United Nations Annual Conference last week, Ms. Songwe said that ECA and AU were working In close collaboration on many fronts and as stated in the AU-UN Development Framework, the focus is on promoting sustainable development and transforming Africa, and most importantly, she stressed. "We are working on the mobilization of national resources to finance the implementation of these aspirations," she said.

Held on 9-10 ^{July 1945 in Addis Ababa implementation of the Framework spouse for a strengthened partnership for peace and safety and welcomed the progress made. It also endorsed the action plan on the AU-UN Framework for the Implementation of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.}

The meeting was held in the United Nations context of the need for increased collaboration, co-operation and co-ordination. solutions to current and future challenges, based on the principles of complementarity, comparative advantage, burden-sharing and collective responsibility to respond quickly, consistently and decisively to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts .

the collaboration between the two institutions; It is a tool that both entities will use to take advantage of the commitments and initiatives that have been prioritized in a number of continental programs, Songwe said. Among these are the Continental Free Trade Area, the Plan of Action to Foster Intra-African Trade and the Industrial Development Program and the Social Policy Framework in Africa

"A mapping of the 39, Agenda 2013 and the SDGs shows that, "she said, stressing that on key issues such as migration and the free trade area of ​​the African continent," ECA sees them as key levers for Economic prosperity of Africa. "Faster economic growth requires both institutions to work together as stipulated in the Development Framework."

A joint and coordinated approach will enable member states to exchange knowledge and to benefit from cross-sectoral badysis and sharing of best practices For example, according to Ms. Songwe, ECA, through the High-Level Panel on Migration in Africa, is looking at uestion of market integration, taxation, governance, migration and education. the migration program in collaboration with IOM, UNCTAD and UNFPA. The Panel is chaired by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia.

"Our collaborative efforts and our badyzes show that the migration of Africans has dropped from 3% to 2.7% of global migration between 2000 and 2017. With the agreement of free movement of people than 26 countries have already signed, Africa is working to design and implement a migration framework that supports the SDGs, "she said

and capitalizing on institutional comparative advantages." The Development Framework is a step in the right direction; it is the only way to meet the aspirations of the continent's citizens, "she said.