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The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) renewed their longstanding collaboration in a meeting that was held on February 26, 2024, in Cairo, Egypt. In this crucial meeting, the successes, challenges, and the way forward on the collaboration which began in 2020 were discussed.

Prof. Dominique Njinkeu, Interim Executive Director, AERC provided a history of AERC since 1988. He walked the participants through the AERC governance structure constituting of the Board, Programme Committee, the Academic Advisory Boards, and the Secretariat. He then discussed the need for the new AERC to have a strong African voice in the governance structure. “That is why for my fundraising since August 2023, I have prioritized the African Development Bank (AfDB), Afreximbank, African Central Bank Governors, and the United Nations Development (UNDP). Such a strong Africa voice will help, among others championing African research and policy agenda,” he said, adding that this way, AERC will be able to respond to African priorities for African transformation.

Prof. Njinkeu, also elaborated on the AERC programmes, providing an overview of the Thematic and Collaborative research programmes; the Collaborative training programmes, CMAP for Anglophone Africa, Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP) and Collaborative Master of Science in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE) in the eastern and southern Africa regions. He noted that there were initiatives for AERC to increase coverage from sub-Saharan Africa to continental Africa.

Dr. Christiane Abou Lehaf, Senior Manager, International Cooperation, observed that since 2020 the AERC/Afreximbank collaboration had faced challenges, a view that was held by the Afreximbank team, including Dr. Yemi Kale, the Managing Director and Group Chief Economist, and Dr. Sampawende Jule Tapsoba, the Deputy Chief Economist and Director Data Management and Model Development. Therefore, there was need to revitalize the collaboration by isolating a few, clear deliverables for implementation in 2024. This would then pave way for further collaboration in the next five-year strategic phase of AERC, 2025-2030. The renewed collaboration will also include regular sharing of published papers championed by the knowledge management personnel at both institutions. The Bank also proposed other avenues for further collaboration including the Centre of Excellence in partnership with the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU); Cairo University; and the Center for Development, which they will be happy to link with AERC.