WTO PUBLIC FORUM 2016

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Moderator

Laura Paez, Chief, Investment Policy Section, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Launch of Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA) VII and the Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII)

Why do African economies perform poorly on all available measures of innovation and what can be done about it? These are the questions that are discussed in ARIA VII: Innovation Competitiveness and Regional Integration.

The ARII tracks and compares each African country's progress in integrating with the rest of the continent, in terms of goods trade, free movement of persons, cross-border flows of finance, regional value chains and cross-border infrastructure, recognizing which countries are leading in efforts to implement their commitments and which are lagging behind. Published for the first time in 2016 as an annual report, it is expected that over time, the Index will incentivise African countries to make greater efforts in implementing their integration commitments.

The session will include presentations of both reports and related discussions.

Speakers

• Darlington Mwape, Ambassador, Senior Fellow, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
• Dirk te Velde, Head of the international economics team, Overseas Development Institute (TBC)
• Gayatri Kanth, international consultant, independent
• Junior Roy Davis, Chief, Africa section, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
• Philippe de Lombaerde, Senior Associate, United Nations University (TBC)
• Laura Paez, Chief, Investment Policy Section, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
• William Davis, Associate Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa