United Nations Economic Commission for Africa - North Africa

ECA Executive Secretary calls on North African countries to “build forward together” for a faster, stronger post-COVID-19 economic recovery

srona.editor — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 19:33:33 +0000

Rabat, 18 November (ECA) – “North Africa is the most impacted sub-region of our continent after Southern Africa, and although most of its countries are not in the low-income category, COVID-19 has made its economies vulnerable. When the G20, OECD, IMF and the World Bank meet next, we want to ask for a substantial package for Africa and make the case together for better market rates for borrowing, including for countries such as Morocco or Egypt who have already gone to the market”. This was stated by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe in her remarks at the opening of the 35^th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) for North Africa on Tuesday 17 November.

Ms. Songwe elaborated on several key measures being taken by the ECA towards supporting member countries in mitigating the impact of the crisis They include adopting and harmonizing regional policies to facilitate emergency and essential trade within the African continent; encouraging the emergence of pharmaceutical hubs across the region including in North Africa; and using digital tools to facilitate information exchanges between citizens and governments and to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth.

“We need to see how we can ensure we build back better, build forward together and grow out of this crisis in a sustainable way” she added.

North Africa, which has so far registered the second highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region after Southern Africa, is expected to suffer heavily from the pandemic, both on the health and economics fronts. ECA projections for 2020 estimate that growth would reach negative figures in North Africa, against a +3.7% growth rate in 2019, with heavy impacts in wide range of fields ranging from tourism to extractive industries, trade and remittances.

While North Africa was halfway into achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2019, with significant progress in poverty reduction, access to education and basic services, these achievements are now being threatened.

Two reports were presented to member countries at the meeting. They focus on key macro-economic challenges posed by the COVID19 crisis and the reforms required in the short, medium and long-term, as well as the progress made so far by Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia in implementing both Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063.

Overall, participants agreed on the need for increased coordination between North African countries.

“We believe it is necessary to establish a cooperation and coordination framework with development partners and especially ECA, to avoid the duplication of efforts and ensure the efficiency of actions taken in support to development”, said Sidi Mohamed Ferhane, Director General for economic forecasting and policies at the Algerian Ministry of Finance and Chairman of the 35th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North Africa.

Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) Secretary General Taïeb Baccouche reiterated for his part, his organization’s “continued support to member states in coordination with sub-regional and regional organizations, and for the formulation of practical recommendations for the design of sustainable development programs to help accelerate sub-regional and regional integration”.

Participants also initiated discussions on joint recommendations in a number of areas including:

- The strengthening of regional integration in North Africa, especially within the framework of the AfCFTA to take full advantage of the agreement

- The need to stepping up cooperation between member countries on market regulations, education, R&D, etc. to provide national companies with wider market access, facilitate investment in infrastructures, adapt their education systems to the new post COVID-19 context, and better position North Africa in global value chains

- Promoting the adoption and adaptation of digital technologies through the accelerated development of e-government, investments in digital infrastructures and the development of the digital economy

- The introduction of policy changes through the adoption of planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of job creation programs, along with clear performance measurement indicators.

The Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) is a yearly statutory meeting aimed at taking stock of achievements and assessing economic and social conditions across the sub-region. The annual meeting also tables strategic orientations for the year to come. This year’s edition of the ICSOE meeting for North Africa converged on the theme, “Recovering from COVID-19: Policies and Strategies for North Africa”.

الأمينة التنفيذية للجنة الاقتصادية لأفريقيا تدعو دول شمال أفريقيا إلى "السير معاً"من أجل تعافي اقتصادي أسرع وأقوى ما بعد كوڤيد -19

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

North Africa 35th ICSOE to Discuss Conditions for Sound, Post-COVID-19 Recovery in North Africa

srona.editor — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 08:56:59 +0000

Rabat, 16 November (ECA) –The ECA office for North Africa will organise the 35^th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) for North Africa on Tuesday 17 November, under the theme: “Recovering from COVID-19: Policies and Strategies for North Africa”.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s edition of the event will take place online.

« The Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts is a yearly meeting we hold with member countries representatives, academics and experts in order to take stock of the work we have carried out in support to the sub-region and to agree on our office’s strategic orientations for the year ahead”, said Khaled Hussein, Interim director at the ECA Office for North Africa ahead of the meeting.

The ICSOE meeting will also be an opportunity to examine the impact of the COVID19 crisis on North African economies and agree on a set of recommendations for a faster economic recovery. To do so, discussions will build on five webinars held by the office over the last month, and in which participants have discussed issues such as the implementation of Agenda 2030 (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 in North Africa and the impact of the pandemic on the progress being made; North Africa’s economic and structural challenges and the reforms needed to facilitate its economic recovery; the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and how it can help mitigate the impact of the ongoing crisis on member countries’ trade strategies; best practices for job creation and finally how innovation and new technologies can help the sub-region navigate post COVID-19 economic trends.

“We expect 2021 to be another difficult year for North African economies, but also a major turning point for them on vital issues such as structural transformation, regional integration and youth employment, and ultimately their ability to achieve inclusive, sustainable and resilient growth in the coming years, said Khaled Hussein.

This year’s edition of the ICSOE meeting for North Africa is taking place as the sub-region is suffering from one of the biggest economic chocs in its modern history, with experts fearing major and long-lasting socio-economic repercussions for its member countries and a slow recovery starting from 2021.

UN forecasts expect the global economy to shrink by -3.2% in 2020, with a mere 0.3% GDP growth in North Africa in the best-case scenario, and a - 5.4% drop in the worst-case scenario.

Since the start of its global spread, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely hit the global economy, disrupting global value chains - which account for nearly half of global trade in a highly interconnected global economy, triggering the emergence of more concentrated value chains and new strategic sectors, and accelerating the 4th industrial revolution.

Prior to the pandemic, North Africa had achieved some growth, which had remained marred by insufficient structural transformation, low productivity growth, participation in lower Value-Added links of global value chains and high unemployment rates, especially among youths.

The Covid19 crisis has also impacted major sources of foreign currency such as FDI, oil and goods exports, remittances and tourism threatening an estimated 5 million jobs this 2020, affecting mostly vulnerable workers such as youths, women and employees in the informal sector.

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

Covid-19: 35th ICSOE Meeting to Focus on Policies and Strategies for a Faster Economic Recovery in North Africa

srona.editor — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 16:17:40 +0000

Rabat, 12 November (ECA) - The ECA office for North Africa will hold on Tuesday 17 November 2020, online, the thirty-fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) for North Africa under the theme:“Recovering from COVID-19: Policies and Strategies for North Africa.”

This year’s edition of the ICSOE meeting for North Africa will take place with the participation of UN Under Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe.

The chairmanship of this event will be passed on from the Arab Republic of Egypt to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.

A statutory deliberative body, the ICSOE meets every year to discuss the work programme and strategic orientations of the ECA Office for North Africa. This meeting will also be an opportunity for provide high-level government officials and experts, researchers and representatives of the private sector and civil society to assess economic and social conditions in North Africa and agree on a set of recommendations to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs, Agenda 2030, regional integration and job creation across the sub-region.

The report of the 35^th ICSOE meeting will be submitted to the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, a deliberative organ of ECA.

The ECA Office for North Africa is one of five Sub Regional Offices of the Economic Commission for Africa, and supports seven countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. Its mission is to support member States in designing and implementing national policies and programmes for inclusive development and structural socio-economic transformation in North Africa.

What: 35^th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE)

When: Tuesday 17 November, from 10:00 am to 13:00 pm UTC/GMT+1

Where: Online. Please click here to access the meeting https://un.interpret.world/loginlink?token=tfdf2797

Languages: Simultaneous interpreting will be provided in English, French and Arabic

جائحة كوفيد-19: الدورة الخامسة والثلاثون لاجتماع اللجنة الحكومية الدولية لكبار المسؤولين والخبراء في شمال أفريقيا من أجل التركيز على السياسات والاستراتيجيات المناسبة لتحقيق انتعاش اقتصادي أسرع في شمال أفريقيا

Aide-memoire

مذكرة توضيحية

Draft Agenda

جدول الأعمال المؤقت

Draft Programme of Work

برنامج العمل المؤقت

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

North Africa requires major overhauls in economic, education sectors to navigate post COVID-19 ICT revolution

srona.editor — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 18:20:55 +0000

Rabat, 5 November 2020 – The ECA office for North Africa, the UNESCO Maghreb office and the Policy Center for the New South held on Wednesday, November 4^th a webinar on “Innovation and New Technologies in North Africa in the Context of COVID-19”.

The meeting aimed to determine how North African countries can seize the opportunities provided by the technological innovations made during the COVID19 crisis to better navigate post pandemic, global economic trends; and how they can use them to restore, strengthen growth and facilitate job creation for their bulging young population.

“This crisis has brought several, major changes, many of which will stay with us even after we bring the pandemic under control. They include the emergence of more concentrated value chains and new strategic sectors, the acceleration of the 4^th industrial revolution and its impact on employment, both globally and in North Africa. This confirms that North African economies not only need to navigate the ongoing crisis, but also to make sure they are not left behind as the global economy recovers and transforms”, said Khaled Hussein, interim director at the ECA Office for North Africa.

“COVID-19 has revealed the vital role of new technologies in the management of this crisis, and how they can provide innovative, and sometimes revolutionary solutions in a diversity of areas. North Africa should take advantage of this technological evolution to build a new economy based on knowledge and creativity”, added Golda El Khoury, UNESCO representative for the Maghreb Region, also stressing the need for countries to generalize the use of ICTs in their education systems, and to adapt educational techniques to online learning.

Experts estimate that global economic recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis is likely to start only in 2021, with repercussions likely to be felt over several years. This 2020, North Africa is expected to experiment a -1.8% GDP drop due to the crisis’ impact on key sources of foreign currency. The sub-region is also expected to lose about 5 million jobs in 2020 and may see more employments threatened by the global acceleration of the 4^th industrial revolution in reaction to the pandemic.

Since the appearance of COVID-19, North African countries have taken significant measures to face the pandemic including an increased use of new technologies. In order to consolidate the measures taken and facilitate a faster economic recovery, the webinar agreed on several recommendations including:

- the need for countries to set up robust legal frameworks around the online economy, to create innovation friendly ecosystems which provide better protection for intellectual property;

- increased public and private financing for R&D and its inclusion in national economic recovery programmes;

- increasing market opportunities for SMEs and innovative start-ups to go beyond national markets by increasing trade between North African neighbours and across the region through the AfCFTA;

- preparing strategies for a complete overhaul of education systems, with the introduction of new technologies, the adaptation of teaching and learning methods, and measures to ensure wide student access to the Internet and equipment to ensure no one is left behind.

According to Larbi Jaïdi, a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, North African countries also stand a better chance of building back better and stepping up innovation by increasing up coordination between them.

“The global innovation environment has become extremely connected across the world. Providing technological solutions to increasingly complex, common challenges will require more numerous and specialized research teams supported by regional and international collaboration. Maghreb countries must therefore open up to each other to facilitate innovation,” he said.

The webinar on “Innovation and New Technologies in North Africa in the Context of COVID-19” took place with the participation of representatives and experts from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. Key recommendations will be submitted to the upcoming thirty-fifth Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) scheduled on November 17th, 2020.

شمال أفريقيا: مراجعة كبرى للاقتصاد والتربية ضرورية في مواجهة ثورة تكنولوجيا المعلومات والاتصالات لما بعد كوفيد -19

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

COVID-19 at Risk of Worsening Youth Unemployment in North Africa

srona.editor — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 10:49:34 +0000

Rabat, November 4^th (ECA) – The ECA Office for North Africa held on Tuesday, November 3^rd a webinar on “Best practices on job creation in North Africa”.

Participants discussed lessons learned and best practices on job creation and what governments and other key actors can do to ensure employment policies achieve meaningful results for youth employment and empowerment across North Africa.

“Employment is a core issue for development policy agenda. Unfortunately, North Africa had the highest unemployment rate in 2019 at 12,1%, and the lowest employment to population ratio in the continent (40.1% against a continental average of 58.8%), with a 29% youth unemployment against 13% globally”, said Khaled Hussein, interim director of the ECA Office for North Africa at the meeting opening.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, North African economies had achieved reasonable growth levels, and several countries had managed to engage their economies on the road towards more diversification. However, the sub-region still faces major issues including low productivity growth and high unemployment rates.

Formal job creation in North Africa’s private sector did not keep up with the rise of the young labour force as Small as Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) - which play a critical role in driving economic growth, creating jobs and building a competitive private sector - struggled to enter markets.

At the same time, many employers have been facing difficulties in finding employees equipped with the skillsets needed for their businesses. According to Ms. Ana Martiningui, CEO of Education for Employment, 81% of businesses have been unable to find the profiles needed to grow their activities, as public education systems struggled to prepare youth for today’s and tomorrow’s economy.

The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a severe impact on North African economies, with experts forecasting a 0.3% GDP growth in the best case scenario, and -5.4% in the worst-case scenario according to United Nations.

This situation is expected to significantly increase youth unemployment figures in North Africa, further complicating countries’ efforts to create enough jobs to match the rapid growth of the labour force, with the risk of turning the sub-region’s demographic dividend into a major issue and potential source of social unrest, according to Amal El Beshbishi, the Employment Lead at the ECA Office for North Africa.

To prevent this from happening, experts presented a variety of recommendations in areas such as youth skilling and re-skilling, the role of the private sector in increasing job creation, and best practice from Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya in the field of youth employment policies and the use of inclusive innovation to generate blue collars jobs.

The webinar on “Best practices on job creation in North Africa” took place with the participation of J. Chris Toe, Senior Advisor for Corporate and Country Strategic Engagement in the Strategic Partnerships Division of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ethiopia; Ana Martiningui, CEO of Education for Employment, Spain; Agya Yaw Nsiah, Director of Research and Planning at the Youth Employment Agency of Ghana, Callee Davis, Economist at NKC African Economics (an Oxford Economics company, South Africa) and Dr. Ahmed Galal, CEO & Co-Founder Taskty.com, Egypt.

فايروس كورونا (كوفيد 19) يهدد بتفاقم بطالة الشباب في شمال أفريقيا

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

Innovation and New Technologies in North Africa in the Context of COVID-19

srona.editor — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 10:48:53 +0000

Rabat, November 3rd (ECA) - The ECA Office for North Africa, the UNESCO office for the Maghreb region and the Policy Center for the New South will hold on November 4th, 2020 from 3pm to 5 pm (UTC/GMT+1) a webinar on “Innovation and New Technologies in North Africa in the Context of COVID-19”.

COVID-19 has brought many changes across the world, disrupting North Africa’s connections to global value chains and impacting strategic sources of foreign currency. The pandemic has also triggered a deep reorganisation of national strategic priorities, accelerating digitization and generating a strong need for systemic change across the economic fabric.

This webinar will be an opportunity for a team of seasoned experts to examine how new technologies have been used to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public services and national economies across North Africa. They will discuss how the accelerated transformation of education services has become a necessity due to this crisis, and debate on the role new technologies can play to accelerate North Africa’s economic recovery and facilitate their adaptation to the new, global economic context.

Public institution, private sector and civil society representatives as well as academics from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia will be taking part in this meeting. Discussions will be simultaneously translated into English, French and Arabic to facilitate a dynamic North-African debate on these important issues.

Key recommendations from this webinar will be submitted to the upcoming thirty-fifth Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) scheduled on November 17th, 2020.

Event: Webinar on “Innovation and New Technologies in North Africa in the Context of COVID-19”
Date: November 4th, from 3 to 5 pm UTC/GMT+1 (Rabat time)
Place: Online, please click here to attend this event https://un.interpret.world/loginlink?token=v9qxg3v9

Concept note

Draft programme of work

مذكرة مفاهيمية

برنامج العمل المؤقت

Webinar: Best practices in job creation in North Africa

srona.editor — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 15:55:51 +0000

Rabat, 30 October (ECA) - The ECA office for North Africa, will hold on Tuesday 3 November 2020 a webinar on “Best Practices in Job Creation in North Africa”.

North African economies have achieved a reasonable growth trend and made huge progress in terms of human development in the past two decades, however, formal private sector job creation has not kept up with the rise in young labor force in the region.

This situation is expected to become even more difficult due to the global economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on employment across the world including in North Africa.

The webinar on “Best Practices in Job Creation in North Africa” will promote best practices and governments and other key actors’ effort to ensure that employment policies achieve meaningful results for youth. Discussions will be based on research work undertaken by the ECA, other partner institutions, think tanks and academia working on this important issue.

Participants in this event will include high-level representatives of national ministries, administrations and institutions responsible for employment and economic and social development, representatives of the private sector, universities and research institutions, United Nations agencies and other development partners engaged in the subregion.

Key webinar recommendations will be submitted to the upcoming thirty-fifth Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) scheduled on November 17th, 2020.

What: Webinar on “Best Practices in Job Creation in North Africa”.

When: Tuesday, November 3, 2020, from 12:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Rabat time (UTC/GMT+1)

Where: Online. Please click here to attend this event https://un.interpret.world/loginlink?token=q3t2so3f

Concept note

Draft programme of work

مذكرة مفاهيمية

برنامج العمل المؤقت

Webinar: Implementing Agenda 2030 and 2063 in North Africa

srona.editor — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:04:32 +0000

Rabat, 22 October (ECA) - The Economic Commission for Africa office for North Africa, will hold on Monday 26 October 2020 a webinar to present the North African regional report on Achieving the UN Agenda 2030 and the AU Agenda 2063.

Five years after the launch of the SDGs, implementing both the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 remains a major objective in North Africa where countries have committed to implementing both development agendas by including them into their own national development programmes and strategies.

While North African countries have made significant progress towards their development goals, they still face persistent socioeconomic challenges such as structural youth unemployment, inequalities, and low female participation in job markets, especially during the current economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This webinar aims to present and review the ECA Office for North Africa study of the in-depth assessment and analysis of progress made across the subregion (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia) towards SDG implementation and monitoring. Five countries have thus far presented their national reports: Algeria (2019), Egypt (2016 and 2018), Mauritania (2019), Morocco (2016) and Sudan (2018), and both Libya and Morocco are scheduled to present reports in 2020.

This webinar will be attended by high-level representatives of national ministries, and members of UN Country Teams consulted in the preparation of this regional study.

What: Presentation of the North African regional report on “Achieving the United Nations Agenda 2030 (SDGs) and the African Union Agenda 2063”

When: Monday, October 26, 2020 from 09:00am to 11:30 Rabat time (UTC/GMT+1)

Where: This event will take place online. Please fill the registration form and send it to filali-ansary@un.org to receive your link to the event.

Aide-me moire

حلقة دراسية شبكية:تنفيذ أجندة الأمم المتحدة 2030 وأجندة الاتحاد الأفريقي 2063في شمال أفريقيا

مذكرة توضيحية

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

AfCFTA: North African Representatives Call for Accelerated Negotiations on E-Commerce

srona.editor — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 14:00:06 +0000

Rabat, 15 October 2020 (ECA) – The ECA Office for North Africa held on Wednesday 14 October 2020 a webinar on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the mitigation of the COVID-19 Impact on trade strategies in North Africa.

The meeting provided representatives of trade ministries, private sector representatives and academics from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia with an opportunity to share their experiences in using national trade strategies to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on populations’ health and access to food, as well as the pandemic’s repercussions on foreign trade.

Participants observed that COVID-19 has disrupted supply chains and international trade, triggering a reorganisation of international trade and increased protectionism.

“We expected this crisis to impact foreign trade. Between April and May 2020, more than 57 countries across the world took restrictive measures which impacted international trade in medicines and food. However, we did not expect to witness such a decrease in foreign trade within the African continent itself, and especially North Africa where trade between countries is very low and accounting for a mere 3 to 5% of national foreign trade“, said Khaled Hussein, Director a.i. of the ECA Office for North Africa.

ECA experts consider that the AfCFTA can help Africa mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and speed up its economic recovery, including by helping reduce market fragmentation, facilitating the rise of African value chains and enabling economic diversification. Implementing the AfCFTA would also provide companies - and especially SMEs - which have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic - with an opportunity to access new supply markets and outlets for their products, including online.

Participants took note of the delays in the AfCFTA implementation process and stressed the difficulty of having to carry out negotiations remotely.

The meeting came up with several recommendations including: 1) Making up for negotiation delays regarding e-commerce, as it has significantly grown in importance since the start of the ongoing crisis. 2) Speeding up negotiations on services and the harmonization of technical norms and regulations to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade. 3) Ensuring that rules of origin benefit member countries first.

Participants considered the possibility of making special arrangements to accelerate the trade liberalization on goods required for the fight against COVID-19.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Tunisian representative announced his country’s collaboration with the ECA Office for North Africa to design a national strategy for the AfCFTA.

The webinar recommendations will be submitted to member countries at the 35th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North Africa scheduled on 17 November 2020.

منطقة التبادل الحر القارية الأفريقية: ممثلو شمال أفريقيا يدعون إلى تسريع مفاوضات التجارة الإلكترونية

Issued by

Communication Team
Economic Commission for Africa
Office for North Africa
Tel: +212 (0) 537 548 749
Email: filali-ansary@un.org; cea.an.coms@gmail.com

SRO-NA Webinar: AfCFTA and COVID-19 mitigation in North African trade strategies

eskinder.tsegaye — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 15:37:35 +0000

14 October 2020

Virtual

The Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) office for North Africa, will hold on Wednesday 14 October 2020 a webinar on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the mitigation of the COVID-19 Impact on trade strategies in North Africa.

Since its outbreak in late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted trade flows and business operations worldwide, affecting African economies and making it critical for national economies to prioritize regional approaches to development.

According to experts, the AfCFTA is likely to play a significant role in African economies’ recovery process, by reducing the fragmentation of African markets and supporting medium and long-term national development strategies in the region to increase its resilience to future shocks.

This webinar will take place with the participation of the trade ministries, private sector representatives and academics from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, with the goal of facilitating the sharing of lessons learned and best practices on how to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their national economies.

Link: to join as VIEWER (broadcast meeting): https://live.kudoway.eu/br/110216671764

When: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 from 12:00am to 14:00 Addis Ababa time and from 10:00 am to 12:00 am Rabat time (UTC/GMT+1)

Concept Note

Programme of work