African Economic Conference 2019: Roadmaps for youth employment, entrepreneurship for youths

The upcoming African Economic Conference will take place in the first week of December this year. This imminent platform is going to be absolutely vital for networking, dialogue and knowledge-sharing on pertinent issues facing Africa.

The African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are jointly organizing the imminent African Economic Conference 2019.

The upcoming African Economic Conference will bring together over 500 African stakeholders, youth representatives, business leaders, policy makers and media representatives from Africa and around the world. It is highly believed to endow with a vital podium for researchers to debate issues relating to youth employment, skills and entrepreneurship capacities, and evaluate the current reforms and initiatives to address the problem. Participants will discuss policy options for optimizing the benefits of Africa's youth bulge and also tackle the youth skills mismatch in the labour market.

Through knowledge sharing and case studies on good practices, presenters will propose strategies and actionable recommendations to speed up the implementation of key development policies such as the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The theme for this year aligns also with the development agenda of the AEC partners, particularly the African Development Bank, which, between 2016 and 2018, created 3.6 million direct jobs from investments of $10 billion in 102 projects across 32 countries.

On the other hand, the African Development Bank's Board of Directors recently approved projects worth $9.15 billion for some 318 projects across 48 African countries from which 4.2 million direct jobs are expected.

"The Bank is changing its plans, projects, staff and systems to maximize the youth employment outcome, mobilize financial resources to motivate private sector actors to scale up proven solutions on youth employment," Tapera Jeffrey Muzira, Coordinator for AfDB's 'Job for Youth in Africa' said.

Last year's conference, held in Rwanda's capital city Kigali underscored economic integration as a game-changer for inclusive growth and prosperity in Africa. Participants recognized the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfTCA) as a bold strategy for correcting the imbalance of powers during negotiations between regional trading blocs.

The African Economic Conference will take place in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh between December 2 and 4, 2019. Stay tuned to Devdiscourse to get the latest updates on the events and conferences in Africa.