Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA), Vera Songwe, Wednesday, January 30, signed an agreement in preparation for the organization of the 52nd Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in the Kingdom of Morocco.
The signing ceremony was jointly chaired with the Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance Mohamed Benchaâboun, and marked the end of a two-day visit in which the Executive Secretary met several ministers.
During her visit, she met with the Head of Government, Saad-Eddine El Otmani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita, Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy Moulay Hafid Elalamy, High Commissioner for Planning Ahmed Lahlimi and UN Resident Coordinator for Morocco Philippe Poinsot.
Songwe thanked Morocco for hosting the Intergovernmental Conference on the Global Compact for Migration and urged the country to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
ECA’s Executive Secretary discussed several key topics during her meetings, they included the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Africa’s economic development and their applications in various areas such as the digital economy, digital IDs, e-commerce, administrative processes or intellectual property.
Other topics mentioned included the regional harmonization of norms, platforms and regulations for improved interoperability and increased trade in Africa; the employment issue and the implementation of the African Women Leadership Fund initiated by ECA in 2018
ECA’s Executive Secretary and the High Commissioner for Planning expressed their appreciation for their institutions’ strong cooperation on statistics.
The Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development will provide opportunities to discuss fiscal, digitalization and trade policies; all these areas require data said Songwe, who expressed her satisfaction at the High Commission’s work to improve data access on the digitalization-driven transformations African societies are currently going through.
The 52nd Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is scheduled to take place on 20-26 March in the city of Marrakech under the theme: “Fiscal policy, trade and the private sector in the digital era: a strategy for Africa”.
Topics to be discussed at this event will include the use of digital technologies to mobilize resources and increase the region’s competitiveness, as well as the use of efficient fiscal policies to speed up growth.
