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Rabat – The inaugural session of the 38th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development’s Expert Committee (COM2019) elected Morocco, by acclamation, to chair a bureau of the 52nd session of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) COM2019, meeting in Marrakech this week.
The bureau includes a first vice president from Ethiopia, a second vice president from Zambia, a third vice president from Togo, and a rapporteur from Equatorial Guinea.
Morocco welcomed the decision made on Wednesday, March 19. “The election of Morocco as Chair of this Bureau is an honour and a responsibility,” Morocco’s Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance Zouhair Chorfi said in a press release.
The meeting of the expert committee, which runs until March 22, will discuss the evolution of the economic and social situation in Africa and assess the progress of regional integration of the continent.
Earlier this month, the director of UNECA, Lilia Hachem Naas, said COM2019 will discuss “the African Free Trade zone, which will foster intra-African trade exchanges along with e-commerce and digital,” among other things.
In February, the Moroccan government council adopted a bill ratifying the agreement to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area. The bill has yet to be brought before Parliament for ratification.
Created in 1958, UNECA is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. ECA is mandated to support the economic and social development of its member states, to foster regional integration, and to promote international cooperation for Africa’s development.
