BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:unctad.org BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6aaa2f4b8447e DTSTART:20190321T030000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE DTEND:20190321T030000Z LOCATION:Buenos Aires\, Argentina SUMMARY:BAPA+40 Side Event: Illicit financial flows and trade in Africa and the role of South-South Cooperation CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:\n\nConference segment: Comparative advantages and opportunitie s of South-South cooperation and sharing of experiences\, best practices a nd success stories\n\n \n\nIllicit financial flows (IFFs) and their costs for African economies has always been a development issue of major concer n for African policy makers\, more so now in the context of the African Co ntinental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). How to address Illicit financial flows in Africa and what role can South-South cooperation play?\n\nIn a world o f increased cross-border trade\, finance and investment\, international co operation (including South-South and triangular) are essential in addressi ng the problem of illicit financial flows and illicit trade.\n\nAs Africa embarks on the AfCFTA and aims at unifying its diverse\, fragmented market s into a single continental market\, marked by increased intra-African tra de and investment\, it faces a set of priorities: addressing its huge infr astructure and related competitiveness deficits\, developing its productiv e and industrial capacities and strengthening public and private capacitie s in a range of areas including customs administration and the monitoring of cross-border trade and finance.\n\nHow to finance the operationalizatio n of the AfCFTA is a critical issue that has to be addressed at national a nd regional levels. Now more than ever\, Africa needs all its available fi nancial resources to operationalize the AfCFTA and reap its expected gains .\n\nIFFs and illicit trade are a concern for Africa'\;s AfCFTA for va rious reasons. To benefit from regional preferential trade liberalization\ , African countries need to build and diversify their productive capacitie s through industrialization in order to boost intra-African trade\, and de velop regional value-chains.\n\nIndustrialization\, boosted by the AfCFTA can reduce the dependence of African countries on the exports of raw prima ry commodities (a major source of IFFs in Africa) and spur the development of regional value-chains but industrialization cannot happen in Africa un less challenges are addressed\, especially in the area of infrastructure\, trade facilitation and capacity-building.\n\nThe region will need to sign ificantly catalyse its investment in soft and hard infrastructure in order to achieve transformative growth and structural change. Countries in Sub- Saharan Africa would have to invest US $93 billion per year in order to me et their infrastructure development needs\, but actual investment is only US $45 billion per year\, implying a funding gap of about $50 billion a ye ar\, roughly the amount of funds Africa loses every year through IFFs.\n\n The AfCFTA can be a catalyst for industrialization\, structural transforma tion and formalization of informal activities\, including informal trade. Africa has to address IFFs in order to divert "\;lost"\; funds int o the operationalization of the AfCFTA while the latter will also help cre ate the conditions and incentives needed to reduce the "\;attractivene ss"\; of illicit activities. Domestic resource mobilization should be an integral part of Africa'\;s agenda for deepening regional integrati on by operationalizing the AfCFTA and the complementary measures needed to make the AfCFTA impactful. Addressing IFFs and illicit trade should be at the heart of this domestic resource mobilization agenda.\n\nThe meeting w ill take the form of a 1.5-hour expert panel presentation and interactive discussions. Participants will be drawn from government\, academia\, civil society\, private sector and the United Nations system. The meeting is co -organized by UNCTAD and the United Nations Development Program.\n\nPANEL\ n\nChair:\n\n\n\nMr. Ayodele Odusola\, Chief\, Strategic Advisory Unit\, R egional Bureau for Africa\, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)\n\ n\n\nPanelists:\n\n\n\nProf. Victor Harison\, Commissioner for Economic Af fairs\, African Union (AU)\n\n\nMr. Sylvain Boko\, Principal Regional Advi sor\, UN Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA)\n\n\nMr. Junior Davis\, C hief of the Africa Section\, Division for Africa\, LDCs and Special Progra mmes\, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)\n\n\nMr . Francois Ekoko\, Regional Coordinator\, UN Office for South-South Cooper ation (UNOSSC) - Africa\n\n\nMr. Alexander Ezenagu\, International Tax Res earcher\, McGill University/International Center for Tax and Development\n \n\nMr Robert Ssuuna\, Policy Lead-Tax and International Finance Architect ure\, Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA)\n\n\n\nDiscussant:\n\n\n\nMr. Dieg o Sarrabayrouse\, Chief of Staff\, Financial Intelligence Unit\, Ministry of Finance\, Republic of Argentina to share experiences from Argentina in combatting IFFs\n\n\n\nA cocktail will be provided between 18.00 and 18.30 \n\n\n<\;div class="\;row\n\nView meeting on unctad.org\nhttps://unc tad.org/meeting/bapa40-side-event-illicit-financial-flows-and-trade-africa -and-role-south-south-cooperation DTSTAMP:20260916T055523Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR