Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, is hosting a week-long conference to be attended by African leaders including Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Mr Haliemariam Dessalegn, HE Paul Kagame, President, Rwanda, HE Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya. A number of African presidents have been attending the COMESA annual meetings, and some will stay on to participate in the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s yearly ministerial meeting, its Conference of Ministers.
This year, the theme of the conference is centered around Agenda 2063, the AU’s vision and action plan. There will be a strong focus on finance and the ministers will arrive with a common position leading up to the July 2015 Financing for Development conference which will also be held in Addis Ababa, a follow up on the Monterrey consensus.
The conference of ministers will be preceded by a number of side events taking place on this weekend. Over 1,000 delegates are expected to attend, including more than 40 African ministers of finance, planning and development, 30 bank governors. These discussions will cover a wide range of issues, such as regional integration, financing the green economy, data revolution and more. The ECA will launch their country profiles, a country by country overview which will provide the most comprehensive country analysis and insights available on African countries. The profiles are a new data and forecasting tool aimed at helping African countries refocus their energies on macroeconomic and social policies to achieve structural transformation across the continent. They will provide periodic assessments of both macroeconomic and social performance, and offer practical and strategic recommendations for national and regional bodies: “a unique overview of challenges and opportunities for structural transformation”, according to Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the ECA.
Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, has been invited to deliver the Adebayo Adedjeji lecture, named after a former head of the ECA.
The organisers of the conference emphasised the importance of domesticating Agenda 2063 into national and regional strategic and action plans. It is not the first African development framework, however it differs from previous frameworks in that it is inclusive and is African led following intense consultations with African stakeholders.
