Africa Economic Conference to address poverty, inequality — AfDB

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says the forthcoming Africa Economic Conference (AEC), to be hosted by the Democratic Republic of Congo in November, will address poverty and inequality. A statement on AfDB website yesterday in Lagos said the theme for the 2015 AEC is “Addressing Poverty and Inequality in the Post 2015 Development Agenda’’
The conference will hold from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4 in Kinshasha, DRC. Citing documents from the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063 and Africa’s Common Position on Post 2015 Development Agenda, the statement envisioned an Africa developed by its citizens.
“The vision is for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena. Key among Africa’s aspirations is to achieve prosperity that is based on inclusive growth, and development that is people-driven and that also unleashes the potential of women and youth,’’ it said.
While noting the timeliness of the conference, the statement said that the central aim of Agenda 2063 was to eradicate poverty in all its ramifications in one generation.
It added that it would also build shared prosperity through social and economic transformation.
The statement explained that the AEC would bring together policy makers, researchers and development practitioners from Africa and from around the world. It said that the experts would make contributions to the implementation of Africa’s vision and the identification of concrete actions necessary for poverty and inequality reduction. It added that the conference would provide an opportunity to assess the impact of current growth strategies on poverty, inequality and human development in Africa.
The statement said that the conference would also discuss successes, lessons learned and identify remaining gaps, challenges and emerging issues on the topic.
“As such, the AEC 2015 will contribute to the policy dialogue and advocacy on inclusive growth by presenting the latest empirical evidence on poverty and inequalities in Africa. It will provide critical thinking on how policy makers, development partners, private sector, civil society organisations and academia should support the planning and implementation of post 2015 Agenda,’’ it said.