From the headquarters

New Directors for IDEP, ACGS take charge

Issue 2, 1 - 15 May 2009

ECA, African Union annual meetings offer Africa the last chance to have its say on the redefinition of rules governing the international financial system.

An interactive session on the global financial crisis is one of the high points of the joint annual meetings of the ECA and African Union, which are slated for 6 and 7 June 2009 in Cairo, Egypt. The session will provide a unique opportunity for African countries to arrive at a common African position on how to deal with the crisis.

The discussions are part of the 2009 Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union (AU) Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.  A meeting of the Committee of Experts planned for 2 - 5 June 2009 in the same location will lay the groundwork for the Conference.

The theme of this year’s meetings is: Enhancing the effectiveness of fiscal policy for domestic resources mobilization. The theme of the Conference is both timely and significant as external resource flows to Africa – official development assistance, remittances and foreign direct investments – have been declining in the aftermath of the recent global economic and financial crisis.

The ministers will be discussing short, medium and long-term measures that African countries need to take in order to weather the current global financial and economic crisis. The Conference will adopt a joint African position on other important economic issues, such as the ongoing reform of the international financial architecture.
A common policy position in the form of a Ministerial Statement will be adopted at the end of the meeting that will serve as a basis for action in meeting the challenge of mobilizing adequate resources for Africa’s development.

The theme of the Conference builds on other recent high level international discussions focusing on the global financial and economic crises, such as the Conference on Africa’s growth challenges jointly organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Government of Tanzania; the G20 Summit in London in April; and the Spring Meetings of the IMF/World Bank; in order to reach consensus on Africa’s contribution to ongoing global efforts to address the crisis.

It will be the second time the AU and ECA are holding joint meetings, following the first joint meetings held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last year.

The Joint Meetings provide a streamlined and coherent arrangement for bringing the relevant Ministers together and a framework for strengthened collaboration between the AU and the ECA.

The venue for the meeting is the Cairo Intercontinental Hotel, Citystars Complex in Cairo, Egypt.