The eighth African Economic Conference will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, 28-30 Oct. under the theme “Regional Integration in Africa”, according to organisers African Development Bank (AfDB).
The conference brings together top policy makers, heads of state, leading researchers and experienced development practitioners from Africa and around the world to discuss issues arising from African countries’ efforts to pool resources and integrate their economies for the development of their regional and individual economies.
The year’s conference will examine the efforts being made in different sectors and areas, including finance, road transport, power pools, water resource management, fiscal convergence and labour mobility.
Discussions will focus on issues specific to middle-income countries and those peculiar to fragile states.
The conference will also discus the constraints facing effective integration – the poorly developed network of regional infrastructure, especially in transport, energy and communications, and the unsuitable array of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks, all of which cannot be ignored. Delegates will also help find ways to facilitate regional integration.
The conference is organised annually by the AfDB, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
