Posted by The African union (AU) Commission on Friday announced that it will host an extraordinary forum of African finance ministers to be held from 11 to 14 January 2009 in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, shortly ahead of this year’s AU summit.
The forum will discuss issues related to the financial affairs affecting many African countries and will pave the way for the establishment of regional financial bodies.
The forum to be attended with dozens of African finance ministers will be held under the theme, “Ways and Means to Speed up the Establishment of the Continental Financial Institutions to accelerate the economic integration and fight the ongoing world financial crisis.”
The forum will also consider the protocol establishing the African Investment Bank which is under being implemented.
Furthermore, the forum will design ways of reducing the impact of the world financial crisis on economic growth and trade, speed up the process of regional integration and develop intra-regional trade, as well as initiate reforms geared to harmonizing national and regional policies.
Given the prevailing world financial crisis the African Union Commission, through the Economic Affairs Department, is convinced that speeding up the economic integration process is one of the most appropriate responses to the crisis, officials said.
Other economic operatives that will attend the forum include the Association of African Central Banks (AACB), African Development Bank (AfDB), and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) among others.
Source African Press Agency
