APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The African Union is convening a consultative forum to assess the implementation of the African Union Financial Institutions (AUFIs) in Zambia’s capital, next week, the AU has said.
According to a statement issued by the AU late Friday, the meeting on Dec 13-15 will bring daughters Ministries of Finance, Central Banks, AU Organs and specialized Agencies, regional Economic blocs, African Central Banks and Securities Exchanges associations, among others.
The participants will look into the economic and political challenges impeding the member states’ ability to sign and ratify legal instruments establishing the financial institutions.
They will also tackle “constraints that restrain the continent to collectively pool their sovereignty to materialize their efforts and resources” for the establishment of the AUFIs, the African Union said today.
The forum is expected to formulate a strategy to generate consensus and political will on key issues in a bid to galvanize the momentum toward the establishment of the AUFIs.
The meeting will be held amid the dynamics in the global economic and financial structures present challenges. threatening macroeconomic stability, economic growth, and sustainable development in Africa.
The continent has taken on various economic and political integration initiatives, such as trade promotion, acceleration of inclusive growth and sustainable development to minimize the impact of the resulting instability.
While trade integration has received significant attention and made great strides over the years, financial integration has progressed slowly.
In 2009 and 2014, the legal instruments for the establishment of the African Investment Bank (AIB) and the African Monetary Fund (AMF) were adopted, respectively.
However, none of the financial institutions has reached the requisite number of ratifications to enter into force.
The AU pointed out that inadequate funding for establishing the Institutions has been detrimental to the operationalization of the African Monetary Institutes, which is the first step toward the establishment of the African Central Bank (ACB).
MG/as/APA