Rabat, 5 November 2025 (ECA) - The ECA Office for North Africa is holding the 40th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North Africa (ICSOE) from 11 to 13 November 2025 in Rabat, Morocco, under the theme: “Enhancing domestic resource mobilization through innovation and technology in North Africa”.
Given the scale of North Africa’s financing needs for development, national domestic resources, such as taxation, public savings, and efficient public spending, have a crucial role to play in achieving resilient development, financing essential public services, and supporting strategic investments. They can also help avoid excessive dependence on external financing, development aid, foreign direct investment, or sovereign debt, which can be subject to fluctuations.
Currently, in North Africa, a number of countries including Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, and Sudan collect less than 15% of their GDP in taxes. These amounts are below international standards and inadequate to finance core public services. To make up for weak domestic income, many countries rely on revenue sources such as trade taxes and resource rents, which are more volatile and vulnerable to external shocks. Significant revenue losses are also observed due to phenomena such as illicit financial flows, tax evasion, smuggling, and the informal economy.
To remove these difficulties and strengthen their capacity to finance their development, North African countries must adopt a holistic approach that would include the development of modern tax systems, tax administration digitalization, enhanced budget transparency and expenditure tracking, increased financial inclusion, and scaled up capital market development to mobilize savings and attract investment.
The Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North Africa 2025 held on November 11 and 13 will have two goals: (1) As a statutory meeting, it will review of the activity report of the ECA Office for North Africa, its work program, and its strategic guidelines for the region's development; and (2) As a forum, it will allow for the sharing of analyses and experiences, and the formulation of concrete policy recommendations in support of member countries. The meeting will take place with the participation of country representatives, national and international development institutions and organisations, researchers, experts, and representatives from the private sector and civil society.
Experts will also hold a meeting on November 12, 2025, dedicated to the theme “Increasing domestic resource mobilisation through innovative policies and digital technologies.”
Based in Morocco since 1963, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Office for North Africa supports seven countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia. Its mission is to contribute to enhancing the environment for accelerated and inclusive growth and sustainable development in North Africa through strengthened economic diversification, fiscal management, regional integration and a better recognition of migrant workers’ economic contributions foster an environment conducive to inclusive and accelerated growth and sustainable development through strengthening and improving economic diversification, fiscal management, regional integration, and greater recognition of the economic contributions of migrant workers. The ECA Office for North Africa focuses a significant share of its work on challenges faced by middle-income countries.
EVENT:
Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North Africa under the theme: « Enhancing domestic resource mobilization through innovation and technology in North Africa, » on 11 and 13 November 2025.
Expert group meeting on: « Increasing domestic resource mobilisation through innovative policies and digital technologies, » on 12 November 2025.
DATE: 11-13 November 2025, starting at 9 am
PLACE: Hôtel Tour Hassan, Rabat
NOTE TO EDITORS: A time slot has been reserved for interviews with the media present, on November 11th from 9am to 10am. Please contact the team to facilitate the organization of your interviews and to quickly obtain high-resolution, royalty-free photos.
LANGUAGES: The meeting will be translated in real time into English, French and Arabic.
DOCUMENTS: Please click here to access the meeting documents in English, French and Arabic.
IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE:
Media colleagues are kindly invited to confirm their in-person participation at least 24h before the event with an email to filali-ansary@un.org and nouhaila.ouddach@un.org or a message to 0673 734 462.
ONLINE ATTENDANCE:
Registration link to attend the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for North Africa online (Tuesday 11 November 2025): https://crm-sro-na.uneca.org/registration-icsoe-2025?utm_campaign=226178270-ICSOE 2025&utm_source=ad_hoc_invite
Registration for the expert group meeting on Wednesday 12 November 2025: https://crm-sro-na.uneca.org/registration-egm-increasing-drm-2025?utm_campaign=215295208-EGM Increasing DRM 2025&utm_source=ad_hoc_invite