Morocco to host 9th Africa Development Forum

The Forum is the UNECA flagship event and it is the first time it will be held outside Addis Ababa where the ECA is headquartered, the UN body added in a statement.

The ECA is Africa's leading think tank and the Forum is known to bring together the experts from Africa and internationally to discuss and thrash out some of the most pressing issues relating to Africa, according to the same source.

There is expected to be a strong private sector participation and it will provide a unique platform for business and political leaders to come up with some concrete solutions to some critical issues.

The theme is on innovative finance, which more specifically means accelerating the capital deployed in Africa by deepening capital markets, putting domestic capital to use, looking at new sources of investment such as private equity and also reversing and ending the financial flows through clearer and more structured tax regimes.

The UNECA welcomed Morocco's role as a "key centre" for economic development in Africa.

"Morocco is a key centre for business development in Africa and the Moroccan private sector has been expanding its operation throughout the sub-region", UNECA Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes said.

The UN official said the Forum, which is the UNECA flagship event, will be held for the first time outside Addis Ababa (ECA's headquarters), thanks to Morocco's stable political environment, favourable geographic position, operational legal framework and sufficient development infrastructure of services.