Venue: Moroni, Comoros

Dates: 7- 9 November 2017

Rationale

Each year, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (UNECA, SRO-EA) holds its Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) meeting. The ICE is a body set up by the General Assembly of the United Nations and is the statutory organ of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA). It includes representatives of the fourteen member States covered by the office (Burundi, Comoros, D.R Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda) as well as Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) of the sub-region.

 The main goal of the ICE is to deliberate on crucial economic and social issues affecting the region, examine issues related to the mandate and operations of SRO-EA and foster partnerships to develop regional integration.

 ICE meetings are held on a rotational basis in the different capitals of the sub-region. Past meetings discussed themes such as: “National Champions and Structural Transformation” (Kinshasa, 2014), “The Blue Economy and Structural Transformation” (Antananarivo, 2015), and “Institutions, Decentralisation and Structural Transformation” (Nairobi, 2016).

As reflected in the titles of past ICE meetings, structural transformation has been much discussed amongst policymakers, academics and government officials. Against a background of a much better economic performance since the early 2000s, those discussions reflect concerns that, without a thorough transformation in national economies and societies, that growth process will not prove sustainable.