African Economic Research Consortium Senior Policy Seminar to be Held in Abidjan

The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AFDB) will be hosting the 19th senior policy seminar (SPS XIX) on March 14, 2017 in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. The conference theme will be Industrialization in Africa. The AERC forums are set to bring together Senior Policy makers in the Sub Saharan countries to exchange experiences and deliberate on topical issues ; sustainability development of the economy. Those who participate are government officials including presidents, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies and parastatals all over the continent. This year’s theme is industrialization in Africa where participants will discuss pertinent issues relating to industrialization.

The AERC which was established in 1988 is a public nonprofit organization inclined to the advancement of economic policy research and training. It works towards strengthening local capacity for conducting independent rigorous inquiry into the problems faced by the Sub-Saharan economies in Africa. Though this it intends to enhance the capacity of locally based researchers to contact policy-relevant economy inquiry, promote the retention of such capacity, and encourage its application in the policy context.

The AERC is one of the most active Research and Capacity Building Institutions (RCBIs) in the world, with its focus on Africa. It relies on two main objectives: development is more likely to occur where there is sustained sound management of the economy, and management is more likely to happen where there’s an active, well-formed cadre of locally based professional economists to conduct policy relevant research.  

Africa is under-performing in regards to industrialization. The pressure and need for industrialization is felt. The continent continues to rely on production and export of raw commodities and the share of manufacturing stagnated at around 11% over the last decade. As a result most African economies are vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices and the continent remains home to the world’s highest proportion of poor and to a growing youth population.

With the upcoming AERC Senior Policy Seminar to be Held in Abidjan starting 14th March, Africa will be able to come up with solutions to our industrialization problems.

Written by Amina Martha.