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“AEC 2008 ends with commitment to continued knowledge sharing between policy makers, academics and other experts”
Addis Ababa, 18 November 2008 (ECA) - The Third African Economic Conference (AEC 2008) ended in Tunis on Friday, November 14, 2008, after three days of vibrant discussion on some of the key issues facing Africa in today's globalised economy.
Around 300 academics and researchers, government policymakers, as well as representatives of multilateral finance institutions, attended the Conference which was jointly organised by the UN Economic Commission and the African Development Bank on the theme "Globalisation, Institutions and Economic Development of Africa ”.
The current international financial crisis was a key focus of attention during AEC 2008 as a special meeting of African finance ministers and central bank governors was convened at the same venue on the first day of the Conference to how Africa should best respond to the global financial sector turmoil.
The financial crisis is seen as a serious potential check on the recent growth rates of Africa 's real economy growth, both due to its impact on demand for African commodities and products as well as its impact on the ability of some African countries to attract private sector investment. In that regard, the crisis encapsulates the issues at the heart of the AEC 2008 conference theme.
As well as the issues related to the global financial crisis the AEC discussions addressed critical issues such as Migration and Remittances, Public-Private Role in Institution Building, Financial Development and Growth, Climate Change, Microfinance, and Trade, Rural Development and African Integration. ECA experts in relevant fields were among the conference resource persons presenting papers and chairing sessions.
At the closing session of AEC 2008, Mahamat Abdullahi, Officer in Charge of ECA's Trade Finance and Economic Development Division (TFED) reiterated ECA's commitment to this initiative which he noted is a key means of promoting knowledge sharing between African experts in government and academia as well as with African Think Tanks and Africans in the Diaspora.
AfDB's Chief Economist Louis Kassekende, then formally closed the AEC on Friday by stressing the important opportunity that the annual conference provides for regional and sub-regional organizations to disseminate their research findings and share information with African policy-makers regarding their work in the region. He also called for concrete steps to be taken towards the formation of national economic associations which can serve as the nucleus of a new “African Economics Association”.
The next AEC will take place at ECA's Headquarters in Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , in the last quarter of 2009.
For more information please go to: http://www.afdb.org/aec/
Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251 11 5510365 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.uneca.org
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