Business
African Economic Conference Ends In Tunis
The 5th African Economic Conference ended on Friday in Tunis with an acceptance by participants that collective responsibility was the only panacea to the continent’s economic recovery and sustained growth.
The UNDP Chief Economist, Mr Pedro Conceicao, said at a press briefing that the consensus was based on aspirations, collective and individual countries’ commitments to a comprehensive long-term economic growth.
Conceicao said that as Africans agreed to organise their private sectors, development partners and government institutions as against the usual practice of pondering over Washington or Beijing ideologies showed their preparedness.
“This is an African aspiration, roadmap and demonstrated will for development other than the previous attitude of seeking solutions for African problems through the ideologies from Washington or Beijing,” Conceicao said.
Prof. Mthuli Ncube, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Chief Economist, said the consensus was based on the collective acceptance that Africa must provide the needed infrastructure for the diversification of its economy.
Ncube said that Africans insisted on sustainable power, information technology, regional integration, knowledge based trade, effective healthcare delivery and the development of the continent’s human capital.
“For us at AfDB, the consensus which is very visible is that Africans have identified their development problems and created an avenue to jump-start their various economies which are inter-woven,” Ncube said.
Our correspondent reports that the conference, which was opened by Tunisia’s Prime Minister, Mohamed Gannouchi, was attended by development partners from Europe, Asia and the US.
The theme of the conference was “Agenda for Africa’s Economic Recovery and Long-term Growth”.
The organisers included AfDB, UN Economic Commission for Africa and the UN Development Programme.