African Economic Conference Next Week – African Daily Voice

Johannesburg, South Africa (ADV) – The 13th African Economic Conference (AEC) is scheduled to meet next week in Kigali (3-5 December) on "Regional and Continental Integration in Africa's Development". in line with the African Development Bank Group strategy to promote strong, shared and sustainable growth in Africa ".

The ACS theme for 2018 is aligned with the African Development Bank Group strategy to promote strong, shared and sustainable growth in Africa. The organizers said the conference this year would be too theoretical and it would not have many practical solutions to advance the continent's regional integration agenda, particularly the implementation of AfCFTA.

Intended to bring together African think tanks, researchers, policymakers, public and private sector leaders and representatives of regional economic organizations, the meeting is determined to push Africa's integration agenda towards new highs.

The President of the African Development Bank (ADB), Akinwumi Adesina, said that Africa's challenges were well known and that his institution had positioned Africa's integration as one of their development programs for Africa. the Big Five.

"Our vision is for a stable, integrated and prosperous continent of competitive, diversified and sustainable growth economies, fully engaged in global trade and investment," he said.

This meeting comes just nine months after African leaders signed an agreement establishing the Continental Free Trade Area, the largest free trade agreement in the world since the creation of the World Trade Organization, a milestone just as important.

AfCFTA brings together the continent's 55 African Union Member States, representing a combined market of more than 1.2 billion people. The agreement could potentially create a radical change in intra-African trade.

Estimates from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) indicate that ALECA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by eliminating import duties and doubling trade, if the obstacles non-tariffs are also reduced. This will bring the continent's current intra-African trade figure to 52.3%, compared to 54% in the North American Free Trade Area, 70% in the European Union and 60% in Asia.

Over the last three years, the Bank has financed projects valued at $ 1.3 billion and regional public property valued at $ 187.6 million. The Bank's policy is to ensure that all regional projects devote 10% of their budget to intangible infrastructure interventions.

As part of its mandate, the World Bank Group continues to lead several continent-wide initiatives targeting both "hard" and "soft" infrastructure (for example, policies and instruments to facilitate trade and services). These initiatives include the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), the Infrastructure Development Program for Africa (PIDA) and the Intra-African Trade Enhancement Program.

Adesina emphasized that the ADB will continue to support and intensify transformation initiatives aimed at strengthening regional integration. The institution is also committed to working with stakeholders. RECs need support to put in place a "soft" infrastructure, harmonize investment and engineering codes, and guarantee quality and certification standards.

The Director of Regional Integration of the ADB, Moono Mupotola, urged Africa to attend the next conference.

"It is imperative to seize this moment and this opportunity and to call upon all stakeholders participating in the upcoming African Economic Conference, to get to the bottom of things and to propose relevant and effective results that will guide and guide our future actions."

The launch of the Bank's flagship report, the 2018 visa openness index, will be one of the highlights of the conference. Africa and the world community will expect important results to demonstrate the progress made.

The Bank will ask regional experts to determine the best ways to accelerate Africa's integration. For this to happen, it is imperative to act quickly and effectively to solve the problem of political will, harmonization of legislation and non-tariff barriers.

Through all this, the Bank remains optimistic that cooperation through the RECs is the fastest way to bring together the 54 fragmented African markets.

© Bur-csa – N.A / From our regional correspondent Mkhululi Chimoio – African Daily Voice (ADV) – Follow us on twitter : @ADVinfo_eng