Opening the 9^th annual conference on Global Economic Analysis, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, USG Abdoulie Janneh, called for bold measures aimed at boosting Africa’s market access. He expressed concern that international trade negotiations since the launch of the Doha Round had not yet resulted in concrete proposals to increase access.

He urged participants to make recommendations that “should aim at providing evidence that the developed countries need to be bold in adopting liberalization modalities and measures that will lead to a Doha Round consisting of real development package”.

The three-day meeting is attended by leading economists and researchers from the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) consortium, which includes ECA’s African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), African Development Bank (ADB), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank among others.

Co-chair of the conference, Tom Hertel of Purdue University, said the decision to hold the meeting at ECA headquarters was in recognition of the Commission’s work on trade-related issues. He expressed appreciation at the high attendance rate and hoped this would help improve the availability of data on the continent.

Leading speakers at the conference include Francois Bourguignon, Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President at the World Bank; Professor Robert Evenson of the Economic Growth Centre at Yale University; Professor Keith Maskus of University of Boulder, Colorado; Professor Paul Masson of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Will Martin, lead economist at the World Bank’s Trade and Development Research Group; and Professor Bernard Decaluwe, of the University of Laval, Quebec.

All papers being presented can be downloaded from the conference website: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/events/Conferences/2006/