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ECA Press Release No. 09/2001 KNOWLEDGE NETWORKING EXPERTS MEET TO PREPARE FOR ADF 2001 Addis Ababa, 16 October 201 (ECA) -- African knowledge networking experts will convene here tomorrow for the Africa Knowledge Networks Forum 2001 (AKNF 2001) meeting. Organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the two-day meeting (17 - 18 October), is in preparation for the African Development Forum 2001 (ADF 2001), scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa later this year under the theme "Defining Priorities for Regional Integration". ADF 2001 focuses on regional economic integration in Africa in the context of the recent commitment by African Heads of State to create the African Union (AU). Economic integration is an imperative if Africa is to make the union a durable reality and achieve accelerated development. ADF 2001 will reflect on the experience in Africa as well as other regions with regional integration, identify the priorities and policy options for accelerating regional integration in Africa, and elaborate the necessary steps for economic and monetary union in the African setting. As the technical Advisory Committee of ADF 2001, AKNF 2001 discussions will focus on priorities for regional integration in Africa, namely economic policies for accelerating regional integration, infrastructure development as a means to step up the pace of physical integration, institutional arrangements and capacity, and the peace and security architecture. The discussions on the peace and security architecture will take as their point of departure the clear link between peace, good governance and development, and will focus on the successes and failures of the peace and security architecture on the continent. The following are some of the research papers that will be presented and discussed at the meeting: - ADF 2001: Note by the IMF -- The primary themes are the identification of critical elements in successful economic integration, and the implications for macroeconomic policies, exchange rate arrangements, trade liberalization, tax regimes, financial infrastructure, economic data, transparency, and surveillance. - Fiscal Policy Harmonization in the Context of African Regional Integration -- The paper focuses on feasibility of macroeconomic (mainly fiscal) policy convergence criteria for various regional economic communities (RECs). - Challenges of Regional Integration in Africa: Review of Pertinent Issues -- The paper surveys, reviews and prioritizes policy issues for Africa. - Regional Integration and issues of multilateral trade agreements -- The paper focuses on regionalism versus multilateralism, compatibility of integration objectives and operations, with commitments under WTO multilateral trade agreements. - Supporting Africa's regional integration: The African Diaspora - prototype pan-Africanists -- The paper focuses on institutional and capacity challenges of regional integration and the African Union, and suggests how Africa's vast pool of expertise in the Diaspora can be tapped to respond to these hurdles. - African regional integration: a pre-condition toward multilateral liberalization -- The paper focuses on regional integration as a critical step to integration in the global economy and draws from experiences of other regions to shed light on the institutional, knowledge and integration path selection challenges that Africa will face in moving forward. The conclusions and recommendations of AKNF 2001 will form an integral input in the finalization of the papers and agenda for the ADF 2001, whose recommendations will be conveyed, through the OAU, to the Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Pretoria, South Africa, in July 2002. Africa's leaders will be asked to consider the outcomes of ADF 2001 as a contribution towards concretizing the African Union implementation agenda. END - The papers cited above can be downloaded from the AKNF website at: www.uneca.org/aknf - For information on ADF 2001, visit: www.uneca.org/adf2001 - For details on how to participate, please contact Mr. Peter Robleh, Co-ordinator, ADF 2001 Secretariat, Economic Commission for Africa, P.O. Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel: +251-1-44 52 27, Fax: +251-1-51 65 63/ 51 30 38, E-mail: probleh@uneca.org - For media participation and related issues, contact Peter da Costa, Tel: +251-1-51 58 26, Fax: +251-1-51 03 65, E-mail: pdacosta@uneca.org Issued
by the Communication Team |
