he Tenth Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration and the Economic Commission for Africa’s Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development will be held as part of Africa Development Week 2017 in Dakar, Senegal, from 23 to 28 March 2017.  The conference will be preceded by a preparatory meeting of the Committee of Experts. 

The Tenth Joint Annual Meetings will deliberate on the theme of “Growth, inequality and unemployment”. The theme builds on the understanding that the sustained reduction of inequality requires a holistic understanding of the interrelated issues for coherent policymaking. The Meetings offer the opportunity to discuss the nexus between issues of economic growth, inequality and unemployment. They will address strategies for enhancing inclusive growth and promoting employment, especially for women and young people. The conference will also explore measures for reducing inequality and extreme poverty on the continent in order to achieve the targets of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2013-2023) of Agenda 2063 and the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In addition, the Meetings will consider statutory issues in relation to the Economic Commission for Africa and the Specialized Technical Committee.

The Committee of Experts will meet from Thursday, 23 March to Saturday, 25 March 2017. The Conference of Ministers will take place on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 March 2017. The plenary sessions of the Conference will commence with a high-level policy dialogue on the 2017 theme, followed by a series of plenary sessions on various sub-themes. The discussions will draw on the concept note and technical background materials, which synthesize the results of recent research on the subject. It is expected that seasoned and high-level panelists from within and outside Africa will build on the overarching theme towards an outcome that will have important implications for Africa’s future.

As in previous years, the proceedings will feature a number of significant high-level side events and other meetings, including the eighteenth session of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa (RCM-Africa). In addition, and following the well-received 2016 African Development Week, there will be a number of side events taking place on 25 and 26 March 2017. These 90-minute events, with inspiring discussions and solutions, will be held in parallel over the two days.