African Economic Conference Holds In Abuja Monday

By Dipo Olowookere

Monday, December 5, 2016, has been fixed for the 11th African Economic Conference (AEC) in Abuja and it will end on Wednesday, December 7, 2016.

Several personalities are expected to grace the occasion, including President Muhammadu Buhari, who is to declare it open by 8:30am at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

Others are President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina; Acting Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr Abdalla Hamdok, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr Abdoulaye Mar Dieye; 2007 Nobel Laureate in Economics and Harvard University Professor, Eric Maskin; amongst others.

Theme of the event is ‘Feed Africa: Towards Agro-Allied Industrialization for Inclusive Growth.’

The conference is jointly organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The forum is expected to provide an opportunity for participants to discuss Africa’s agricultural transformation by presenting the latest empirical evidence on how to leverage agro-industrialization for feeding Africa and promoting inclusive growth.

It will also provide critical thinking on how policy-makers, development partners, the private sector, civil society organizations and the academia should support the planning and implementation of these industrialization strategies.

A special event of the conference will be the launch of UNDP’s Africa Human Development Report 2016 (“Accelerating Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa”) on Monday at Hilton Hotel, Lagos/Osun Meeting Room by 2:30pm.

It would be officiated by Nigeria’s Ministers of Budget and Planning, and Women Affairs together with UNDP’s Regional Director for Africa.

Two other special events will hold on Tuesday 6 December: Launch of Economic Report on Africa 2016 and a discussion on Youth Agri-preneurship’s Aspirations and Challenges.