The Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) is the supervisory body for the activities of the Sub-Regional Offices (SROs) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). It provides a forum for exchange between experts from member states, regional economic communities and their specialized institutions, the private sector, researchers, civil society and other technical and financial partners. The ICSOE meets annually to define and monitor the implementation of the SROs work programs, and to discuss the main issues and challenges related to the economic and social development of each subregion, with a view to formulating appropriate recommendations to address them.
For the third consecutive year, ECA Sub-Regional Offices for Central and Eastern Africa will be organizing their joint session of the ICSOE, to be held from October 15 to 18, 2024, in Yaounde, Republic of Cameroon, under the theme “Rapid implementation of research and innovation solutions to fasttrack economic diversification in Central and Eastern Africa”.
The choice of this theme stems from the work of the previous joint session, held in Bujumbura, Burundi, during which experts from Central and Eastern Africa recommended that the ECA reflect on the issues of research and technological innovation, extending the scope of their application in the process of industrialization and economic diversification in Central and Eastern Africa.
While industrialization through the development of a dynamic manufacturing sector is essential to building more resilient economies and thus sustaining the long-term development of Central and Eastern Africa, it is equally important to adopt a determined and proactive policy of technology appropriation, useful to the industrialization process. Product manufacturing processes, or technologies, on which competitiveness depends, are constantly evolving. Industries must constantly benefit from technological innovations, or risk extinction.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No.9 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which is to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”, addresses three important aspects of sustainable development: infrastructure, industrialization and innovation. SDG 9 is one of the most crucial goals for supporting Central and Eastern Africa in their ambition to achieve rapid development and transformation, through increased production capacity and innovation.
This theme also finds its justification in the declaration of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union who, at the end of their extraordinary summit in April 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria, committed themselves in the Lagos Plan of Action to the promotion of science, technology and innovation in the service of the continent's development, and even more recently, in June 2014, renewed their commitment by adopting the Ten-Year Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation for Africa (STIS-2024), essentially calling on member countries to take action to accelerate the move towards economies that are assuredly driven by innovation.
WORKING DOCUMENTS
REPORTS
- Main Report
- Macroeconomic and Social Developments in Eastern Africa 2024
- Annual Activity Report
- ICSOE Report
PRESENTATIONS
- SROCA & SROEA Economic and Social Outlook
- Blue Economy 1
- Blue Economy 2
- Blue Economy 3
- AfCFTA
- SRO EA Activity Report
LOGISTIC AND ADMINISTRATION
