The conference took place in Lilongwe, Malawi 28-30 March. Ahead of the summit, ECA organised a seminar entitled “Illicit financial flows from Africa: Hidden resource for development”. The Norwegian State Secretary opened the meeting, Raymond Baker of the Financial Integrity and Economic Development Task Force did the main presentation, and Harald Tollan of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs participated in the discussion panel. The event was well attended, with close to 200 participants.
In preparation of the summit event, Mr. Baker visited the ECA and the Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa in March. The Task Force has produced a report on illicit financial flows from African countries between 1970 and 2008, available here.
Illicit financial flows were also discussed at the summit itself, introduced by State Secretary Fiskaa. Participants from across Africa emphasised the importance of these issues. The ECA will continue to follow up and is planning to support policy development in this important and far reaching policy area which includes issues like capital flows, tax evasion, trade mispricing, criminal proceeds, and to a relatively smaller extent corruption. Working towards establishing international and regional conventions on transparency is a Norwegian priority.
The Norwegian Government hopes to see this fruitful cooperation with the Task Force, the ECA, and African officials continue.