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The pandemic’s impact on global trade has significantly harmed Africa’s economies and development. Could historic changes to the way African trade operates drive its recovery?
The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Africa have been severe, with formal and informal sectors affected by lockdowns, decreasing exports, disruptions to global supply chains, mounting debt and increasing levels of poverty. Fiscal responses have been unable to weather dramatic shifts in business and economic activity worldwide, with major challenges for local populations seeking employment and food security.
With historic changes within the continent to the way trade is being conducted, a crucial part of Africa’s economic recovery from COVID-19 therefore hangs on what happens in this area. Will the much-hyped African Continental Free Trade Area really transform the continent’s economic prospects, or does an economic recovery depend on external actors? With a small percentage of Africa receiving vaccines to COVID-19, how can trade work to counter the challenges of supply?
Meet our speakers and chair
Rebeca Grynspan (@RGrynspan) of Costa Rica was appointed the eighth Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on 13 September 2021. She is the first woman in the organisation’s history to hold this position. A renowned advocate of human development, Ms. Grynspan has a substantive track record in government, in the United Nations system and as an economist. She has been repeatedly called on to help focus the world’s attention on key issues such as the reduction of inequality and poverty, gender equality and South–South cooperation as a means of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Teniola Tayo is a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar. Her research interests focus on security, trade and development. She has previously worked with think tanks across West Africa and with the Nigerian government. She is an alumna of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is a Fellow with the LSE Programme for African Leadership. She is also a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.
David Luke (@DavidLukeTrade) is Professor in Practice and Strategic Director at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, LSE. Specialising in African trade policy and trade negotiations, Professor Luke has decades of experience from a career spanning a tenured appointment at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and assignments at the African Union, the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). At the ECA’s African Trade Policy Centre, Professor Luke and his team were instrumental in the preparation of the protocols that make up the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.
More about this event
This event is part of the LSE Festival: How Do We Get to a Post-COVID World? running from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 June 2022, with a series of events exploring the practical steps we could be taking to shape a better world.
The Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at LSE (@AfricaAtLSE) promotes independent academic research and teaching; open and issue-oriented debate; and evidence-based policy making. The Institute connects social sciences disciplines and works in partnership with Africa to bring African voices to global debates.
ORGANIZER: Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at LSE
WEBSITE: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/LSE-Festival/2022/events/0617/africa